Senior moments
Murphy et al. (1996) used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission topography (PET) to investigate gender differences in how brains age. They found that both metabolism and brain volume are affected differently by age in men and women. Murphy et al concluded that this aging difference may be linked to how men and women recover from brain injury and disease. This confirmed MRI findings by Gur et al. (1991), showing that men demonstrated more age-related atrophy than women in the left hemisphere: women's brain atrophy was more symmetrical. Both Gur et al and Murphy et al suggest that estrogen may play a key role in protecting brain function. Estrogen is also linked to protecting the brain in case of stroke, according to Alkayed et al (1998).
Despite this protective effect, Wimo et al (2003) found (through meta-analysis) that 59% of the victims of senile dementia were female. It is tempting to ascribe this difference to the mortality gap; in the United States, by age 85, there are twice as many women as men (2003 census), but Ruitenburg et al. (2001) suggest that Alzheimer's risk is still greater in women even when controlling for death rates. However, Ruitenburg did find that vascular dementia rates were higher in men for all age groups.
This, then, is the key to understanding why dementia rates are so close to even. Vascular dementia (or dementia following a stroke) is the most common form of dementia in Asia, and the second most common form (after Alzheimer's) in the U.S. and Europe. While the estrogen effects seem to protect against vascular dementia, there does not appear to be an effect on Alzheimer's risk.
Is there anything more terrifying than the thought of losing your cognitive function? People in my family don't seem to live to a ripe old age, in general, so I have not had much personal experience with dementia. It remains a largely formless bogeyman in my mind. I seem to have noticed a difference in the way people deal with their fear of memory loss, but my sample seems even more skewed than normally in this regard. I've never seen a man joke about having a "senior moment," whereas it seems to be something that the women I know in their 50's and 60's mention with a smile at least three times per week. It seems odd to me that women, who don't seem to use humor as a coping strategy as often as men, would choose this one item to embrace with laughter. I can't get my mind around the shape of it, but it's always seemed to me that there's something important there, "unknown and partially hidden".
Despite this protective effect, Wimo et al (2003) found (through meta-analysis) that 59% of the victims of senile dementia were female. It is tempting to ascribe this difference to the mortality gap; in the United States, by age 85, there are twice as many women as men (2003 census), but Ruitenburg et al. (2001) suggest that Alzheimer's risk is still greater in women even when controlling for death rates. However, Ruitenburg did find that vascular dementia rates were higher in men for all age groups.
This, then, is the key to understanding why dementia rates are so close to even. Vascular dementia (or dementia following a stroke) is the most common form of dementia in Asia, and the second most common form (after Alzheimer's) in the U.S. and Europe. While the estrogen effects seem to protect against vascular dementia, there does not appear to be an effect on Alzheimer's risk.
Is there anything more terrifying than the thought of losing your cognitive function? People in my family don't seem to live to a ripe old age, in general, so I have not had much personal experience with dementia. It remains a largely formless bogeyman in my mind. I seem to have noticed a difference in the way people deal with their fear of memory loss, but my sample seems even more skewed than normally in this regard. I've never seen a man joke about having a "senior moment," whereas it seems to be something that the women I know in their 50's and 60's mention with a smile at least three times per week. It seems odd to me that women, who don't seem to use humor as a coping strategy as often as men, would choose this one item to embrace with laughter. I can't get my mind around the shape of it, but it's always seemed to me that there's something important there, "unknown and partially hidden".