Mind Health News: According to the findings of a new study, the cognitive function of women degrades with age, on the contrary men don’t face such problems.
A recent study claims that cognitive decline happens to be sharper in women than in men, in spite of, women scoring higher than men on several cognitive measures. The findings suggested that while women have a “greater cognitive reserve” than men, they may yet suffer “faster cognitive decline”. Given this, women require better caregiving and functional support resources, also because women’s life expectancy is longer when compared to men.
Nearly 6 million people in the United States have dementia and nearly 11% of older adults have evidence of cognitive decline, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers of the University of Michigan say that while the prevalence of cognitive decline has dropped in the United States over the past 25 years, the numbers were less among women than in men.
The study used data from several other studies, to trace the cognitive performance of more than 26,000 adults in the United States in the last 8 years. The studies involved the examination used various assessments for cognitive function. Participants (aged from 51-67 years) were assessed for global cognition, executive function, and memory.
Global cognition measures language comprehension, perception, and decision-making. Executive function consists of thinking, working memory, and self-control. While women performed better than men, the results also showed a faster decline of cognitive function in women. It may be because of the differences in sex hormones, structural brain development and genetics, declared by the researchers.
To Know More About this news, You May Refer To:
Levine DA, Gross AL, Briceño EM, et al. Sex Differences in Cognitive Decline Among US Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(2):e210169. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0169
