New research aims to understand why women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease
Tasmanian researchers are one step closer to understanding why women are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, with their research recently published in the international journal Neurology.
Professor Jane Alty and Aidan Bindoff from the University’s Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre led a team of researchers to determine if cognitive reserve (education and IQ) slowed down age-related cognitive decline equally in males and females.
Researchers measured cognitive reserve using total years of education and by measuring their IQ, accessing data through the Wicking Centre’s Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project (THBP).
The THBP is a long-term cohort study, recruiting healthy Australians aged 50-80 years without cognitive impairment that began about 10 years ago.
The THBP aimed to determine if university education later in life reduced age-related cognitive decline and significantly decreases risk, or delays the onset, of dementia.
Data from 562 participants (383 females and 179 males) was analyzed for Professor Alty’s study.
The study’s results showed that cognitive reserve, measured through IQ, moderated the steepness of age-related cognitive decline in males, but not in females.
The study’s results also showed education did not significantly moderate cognitive trajectories in either males or females.
