Reading to prevent dementia? I'm afraid there is a difference between men and women

As the population ages, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia have become the main causes of disability in people over the age of 70.
, older women are the most affected group.
latest meta-analysis, older women have a 50 percent higher risk of developing dementia than men.
while there may be a biological basis for gender differences in AD and associated dementia risks, it is undeniable that socially constructed gender norms also significantly influence such risks, such as educational attation.
, society's expectations of gender roles have been reflected in the fact that women have fewer access to higher education than men.
observational studies have shown that education has an important impact on knowledge reserves and indirectly leads to clinical manifestations of neuropathological damage to the brain, thus playing a key role in delaying the onset of AD.
education promotes better performance in several cognitive areas, including memory, learning and executive function.
the relationship between cognitive performance and AD and associated dementia risk has been established, many experts believe that gender differences in education are a potential way to generate gender differences in dementia, such as AD.
, experts from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London carried out a study that was published in the latest Lancet journal, Lancet Public Health.
study aims to investigate the role of education in affecting gender differences in cognitive performance in old age.
researchers analyzed data from two prospective cohort studies in the UK: the British Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Whitehall II study, which assessed gender differences in cognitive performance and cognitive decline through birth cohorts (year of birth 1930-38, 1939-45, or 1946-55).
evaluates memory function through instant memory detection and language fluency through semantic fluency tests based on animal naming.
in each study, cognitive scores were standardized based on the average and standard deviation of the corresponding tests of participants aged 50-59 with secondary education.
study included a total of 15,924 participants.
In the summary analysis, women's memory scores were better than men's when educational corrections were taken into account in all birth queues (e.g., at age 60, the average difference between sexes (male score minus female score) was 0.25).
, men's memory declined faster than women's (the average difference over 13 years was -0.15).
In terms of fluency scores in the earlier birth queue and in the lower education group, men were significantly higher than women (at age 60, the birth queue was 1930-38, with an average difference of 0 . . . 20);
researchers point out that gender differences in cognitive performance are dynamic because women in the later birth queue tend to have more memory and less fluentness.
, women who received higher education in the later birth queue had higher fluent scores than men in the same birth queue and education.
, the gap between men and women in education levels has narrowed as a result of increased access to education, which may change the risk of AD and associated dementia in women in the future.
is also a wake-up call for public policies to reduce gender disparities in access to education.
: Mikaela B., et al. Sex differences and the role of education in cognitive ageing: analysis of two UK-based prospective cohort studies. Lancet Public Health 2021; 6: e106–15. MedSci Original Source: MedSci Original Copyright Notice: All text, images and audio and video materials on this website that indicate "Source: Mets Medicine" or "Source: MedSci Original" are owned by Mets Medicine and are not authorized to be reproduced by any media, website or individual, and are authorized to be reproduced with the words "Source: Mets Medicine".
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