It helps explain why so many more women than men have Alzheimer’s disease, they said.
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The outcome of her study was scheduled to be presented on Tuesday at the Alzheimer’s Association global Conference, which is in Washington, D.C. Data and conclusions proffered at conferences are mostly considered preliminary, till the time they are published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Researchers have searched in vain for decades to determine other reasons for the disparity.
Dr. Katie Schenning of the Oregon Health & Science University tracked records of more than 500 participants in two long-term studies of cognitive aging, which included a battery of brain tests.
Women suffering from mild cognitive impairment, which is a forerunner to dementia, appear to go downhill at twice the rate as men, United States scientists have found.
“Saliva is easily obtained, safe, and affordable, and has promising potential for predicting and tracking cognitive decline”, researcher Shradda Sapkota said in a statement.
The researchers’ conclusions were based on data on 440 men and women 75 and older who were followed for nine years.
Great news for people with Alzheimer’s disease was brought by way of a new study showing that a person’s saliva may be able to tell if the person is at risk of getting this disease.
She advises, instead, that elderly folks who are at risk should minimize elective or unnecessary surgeries requiring general anesthesia. A new study found that women lose cognitive function faster than men once the first signs of memory loss and impairment in thinking are noticed.
Participants in the study were tracked for 25 years starting their early adulthood and observed that people who reported lower levels of physical activity had poor scores on cognitive tests. Up until this point, detecting Alzheimer’s early has been problematic but that may soon change thanks to a saliva test that could detect the disease early.
Sleep apnea – brief interruptions of breathing that repeatedly awaken people without them realizing – caused a almost two-fold increase in that risk, Yaffe said. The results showed that salivary samples of people with Alzheimer’s disease had some substances that were not present in the samples of healthy people as well as those with cognitive impairment, according to Philly.
Dr. Roberta Brinton of the University of Southern California says much more work needs to be done on sex differences in the brain.
MICHAEL WEINER: Overall, women had more amyloid in their brain than men.
Women have a longer life span than men. And then there are lifestyle differences – diet, exercise, childbearing.
“It is unrealistic to think that a 9-year-old will apply himself more in school just so that he will have a more fulfilling quality of life 50 or 60 years later”, he said.
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In 2009, Clare, a former teacher who is now 69, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “The X chromosome or the XY chromosome is within all of our cells, and that very likely has an effect on cell function”, said Brinton, who helped organize the Alliance of Women Alzheimer’s Researchers (AWARE), a professional interest group within the Alzheimer’s Association.
