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Women excel at a skill called verbal memory : the ability to learn and remember verbal information, such as stories or shopping lists.
Up to now, tests to detect Alzheimer's relies heavily on the measurement of this ability, explain the authors of the study, which means that some women may appear normal when They already have this disease destroyed memory .
"It has been shown that about 10 percent of women initially diagnosed as normal met the criteria for Alzheimer's ," warned author Pauline Maki of the study. , professor of psychiatry and psychiatry. Psychology of the University of Illinois, in Chicago .
"On the contrary, we found that about 10% of men changed their classification and went on to not to have Alzheimer's Disease ." These findings suggest that it is important to pay attention to the differences Read More: They discover the main cause of Alzheimer's disease
The disease of Alzheimer's is a type of dementia which causes difficulties in memory, thought and behavior. At present, there are nearly 6 million Americans with Alzheimer's. By 2050, this figure is expected to reach 14 million, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Maki said that women have a lifetime advantage in verbal memory, and that this is due to the hormone estrogen. He said that when younger women should have their ovaries removed, this causes a drastic reduction of estrogen, and there is also a drastic deterioration of verbal memory.
See also: Alzheimer's, the disease of forgetfulness
Verbal memory is also affected during menopause, when estrogen levels are naturally reduced. Maki said that the brain normally learns to compensate for this and actually produces its own estrogen which helps preserve verbal memory.
"This reserve of verbal memory offers a benefit to women by keeping memory despite having Alzheimer's disease in the brain," he said, adding that this benefit may quickly become a disadvantage for women. as the disease progresses. "Women are transitioning much more rapidly from the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease to the dementia phase because they are diagnosed later," said Maki.
The new study numbered about 800 women . Their average age was 73 years and their average length of education was 15 years. Nearly 950 men also participated in the study. They were a little older, with an average age of 74 years, and an average school age of of 16 years.
Researchers examined the standard limits of Alzheimer's tests and compared them to sex-specific limits to see if they could more accurately classify men and women with or without the disease .
And, in fact, they found that it was possible. About 1 in 10 women and 1 in 10 men were misdiagnosed before using the gender-based limits of the tests.
Heather Snyder, Senior Director of Medical and Scientific Operations at the Alzheimer's Association, said: "This research suggests that the use of this type of evidence [de la memoria verbal] for women may mask changes under in their biology.The changes are detected as early as in a man. "
Snyder said that it is important to receive the diagnosis as soon as possible. This gives people the opportunity to think about the care they want and take care of their financial and family concerns.
He said that early diagnosis also allows people to benefit from currently available drugs and to participate in clinical trials.
The study was presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago. The results presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Photo: Pixabay
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