Study Reveals More Women, Fewer Men Diagnosed with Cognitive Impairment When Tests are Adjusted for Sex

The news in brief:

• More women and fewer men may receive a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) when memory tests are sex-specific.

• The findings, published in Neurology, revealed that using sex-specific scores may change the diagnosis for 20% of those currently diagnosed with MCI.

• If the findings are confirmed, they have vital implications in the diagnosis of MCI in men and women and could change the process of testing for signs of dementia.

STONY BROOK, NY, October 10, 2019 – Using sex-specific scores on memory tests may change the diagnosis for 20 percent of those currently diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), with possibly more women and fewer men being diagnosed with MCI, according to a new study published online in the journal Neurology. Co-author Anat Biegon, PhD, Director of the Center on Gender, Hormones and Health, at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, says if these results are confirmed, the process for testing men and women for dementia ultimately could change.

MCI, considered a precursor to dementia, is when people have memory and thinking skill problems. Because women typically score higher than men on tests of verbal memory, they may not be diagnosed with MCI as early as men are when they have the same levels of Alzheimer’s disease-related brain changes, such as the amount of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain or amount of shrinkage in the hippocampus area of the brain.

In the study, researchers used memory test scores based on sex instead of averages for both men and women. Using the sex-specific scores, they found that 10 percent more women were diagnosed with MCI and 10 percent fewer men were diagnosed with MCI than when the averages were used.

“There are numerous implications to our findings if they are confirmed,” says Biegon, also a Professor of Radiology and Neurology, a co-author on the study.

These implications, she says, include:

• If women are inaccurately identified as having no problems with memory and thinking skills when they actually have mild cognitive impairment, then treatments are not being started early enough, and they and their families are not planning ahead for their care or financial or legal situations.
• If men are inaccurately diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, they can be exposed to unneeded medications along with undue stress for them and their families,” she explains.

The study involved 985 people from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. All of the participants took a verbal memory test that involves learning a list of 15 unrelated words and recalling as many as possible in five immediate tests, where scores range from zero to 75, and also after learning another list and then a 30- minute delay, where scores range from zero to 15.

Overall, using typical scores bases on averages across men and women, 26 percent of women were diagnosed with MCI and 45 percent of men were diagnosed with MCI. With sex-specific scores, 36 percent of women, and 35 percent of men, respectively, were diagnosed with MCI.

The study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.

###

About Stony Brook University Stony Brook University is going beyond the expectations of what today’s public universities can accomplish. Since its founding in 1957, this young university has grown to become a flagship as one of only four University Center campuses in the State University of New York (SUNY) system with more than 26,000 students and 2,600 faculty members, and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs. Our faculty have earned numerous prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation, Abel Prize and the inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. The University offers students an elite education with an outstanding return on investment: U.S. News & World Report ranks Stony Brook among the top 50 public universities in the nation. Its membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) places Stony Brook among the top 62 research institutions in North America. As part of the management team of Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University joins a prestigious group of universities that have a role in running federal R&D labs. Stony Brook University is a driving force in the region’s economy, generating nearly 60,000 jobs and an annual economic impact of more than $4.6 billion. Our state, country and world demand ambitious ideas, imaginative solutions and exceptional leadership to forge a better future for all. The students, alumni, researchers and faculty of Stony Brook University are prepared to meet this challenge.

Original post https://alertarticles.info