Women in paid jobs slow their memory later in life: report – Xinhua

LOS ANGELES, July 18 (Xinhua) – Women who have been employed at an earlier age are experiencing a slower decline in their memory as they get older, scientists said Tuesday at the International Conference of the Alzheimer's Association (AAIC) ) 2019.

Elizabeth Rose Mayeda, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California at Los Angeles, and her team studied 6,386 American women born between 1935 and 1956.

The researchers found that women employed between early adulthood and middle age, whether they were mothers or not, had a slower memory delay later in life than women who did not work.

According to the study, the rate of memory loss was the fastest in women who had never exercised a professional activity.

Researchers have said that jobs can provide women with benefits, including mental stimulation, financial benefits and social connections, all of which can limit the decline of memory as they age.

"Although preliminary, our research provides evidence that participation in the paid labor force can help prevent the decline of end-of-life memory among women in the United States," said Mayeda.

"Future research should determine whether policies and programs that facilitate the full participation of women in the paid workforce are effective strategies to prevent the decline of memory," she added.

In the United States, two-thirds of people with Alzheimer's disease are women, according to the Facts and Figures report of Alzheimer's Disease published by the Alzheimer Society in 2019.

According to a long-standing view, more women than men are suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia because their life expectancy is longer on average. But new evidence reported at the conference suggests that this may not be the whole story.

"The research presented today by the AAIC brings us closer to answering this question by identifying specific biological and social reasons why Alzheimer's disease is different in men and women," he said. said Maria C. Carrillo, scientific leader of the Alzheimer's Association.

Researchers at the University of Miami have badyzed genes in approximately 30,000 people and found 11 different genes that have bad-specific badociations with the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

"This research demonstrates that genetics can contribute to the differences in risk and progression of Alzheimer's disease between men and women," said Brian Kunkle, a genetic epidemiologist and badociate scientist at the University of Miami. "Further research is needed to understand how these genes contribute to the risk of Alzheimer's disease and to find out if they can be used to specifically identify men and women at risk of contracting this disease."

In addition, researchers at the University of California San Diego found that women's brains metabolized glucose better than men, despite similar signs of early to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

This suggests that women may be more successful than men in offsetting the early brain changes badociated with Alzheimer's disease and may contribute to their benefit in terms of verbal memory at this stage of the disease.