[A puzzle impression of dementia. Photo Credit: Pixabay]

According to research from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine that was published on May 19 in the journal Biology of Sex Differences, women not only have higher rates of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, but may also be more severely impacted by a number of common risk factors associated with cognitive decline. 

The research was spearheaded by Dr. Megan Fitzhugh, an assistant professor of neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the first author of the study that analyzed over 17,000 middle-aged and older persons' data. 

Beyond identifying the most prevalent risk factors, the study discovered that some have a disproportionately greater impact on women's cognition. 

This suggests that prevention strategies may be more effective if they are tailored not only to the prevalence of risk factors but also to the degree to which each factor affects cognition in women as opposed to men. 

The results may help explain why women comprise over two thirds of Alzheimer's patients in the United States.

Women account for the majority of the over seven million Americans who are currently suffering from Alzheimer's. 

Despite women’s longer lifespans, scientists claim that this difference cannot be entirely explained by this factor alone.

The ways that biological, social, and behavioral factors interact to influence dementia risk differently in men and women are being studied more and more

Changes in lifestyle or medical treatment may be able to alter several of these factors.

The researchers utilized data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older Americans, to analyze 13 known dementia risk variables for the new study. 

The variables included education level, hearing loss, smoking, drinking, obesity, depression, inactivity, hypertension, diabetes, and other cardiometabolic disorders.

The investigation revealed several significant distinctions between men and women.

Women reported higher rates of physical inactivity (48% versus 42% in men), depression (17% versus 9% in men), and sleep issues (45% versus 40% in men). 

Furthermore, women in the study had somewhat lower average educational attainment, which is considered a risk factor for cognitive decline in the future.

In terms of lifestyle factors, men were more likely than women to have diabetes (24% versus 21% in women), heavy alcohol consumption (22% versus 12% in women), and hearing loss (64% versus 50% in women).

Approximately six out of ten people in both groups had high blood pressure and both sexes' average BMI was in the overweight to obese range. 

The researchers discovered that a number of risk factors were more significantly associated with lower cognitive function in women than in men.

Heart and metabolic health conditions, such as high body mass index and hypertension, had more pronounced unfavorable correlations with women's cognitive abilities. 

Despite being more prevalent in men, diabetes and hearing loss were equally linked to worse cognitive scores in women.

The results imply that not everyone may be equally affected by the same dementia risk factor. 

Women's brain health may be significantly impacted by a medical condition that just slightly impairs men's cognitive abilities. 

These variations emphasize how crucial it is to take sex into account as a crucial factor in dementia research. 

When discussing major causes of death, such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's, sex differences are often overlooked.