We’re learning more about how Alzheimer’s disease presents differently in men and womenMaskot/Alamy
Women tend to have more robust verbal memories than men, which can mask signs of early Alzheimer’s disease. This means that commonly used memory tests may fail to pick up on the condition in women, delaying their diagnosis and treatment, according to a new study.
“We are starting to recognise that gender differences in Alzheimer’s is a big issue,” says Ralph Martins at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, who wasn’t involved in the research.
Sasha Novozhilova at McGill University in Montreal and her colleagues analysed data from two large, long-term studies that conducted regular cognitive testing and brain imaging of older adults in the US and Canada, some of whom developed Alzheimer’s disease.
The participants’ cognition was assessed by getting them to learn a list of 15 words that were read to them, then asking them to recall the words immediately, after being distracted with different words, and again later on. This kind of verbal memory test is commonly used in clinical settings as part of investigations for Alzheimer’s disease.
