Considering Biological Sex in The Development of Dementia

Abstract

Dementia is a neurological, cognitive disease characterized by a patient’s impaired memory and judgment, often seen during the geriatric stages of life. It is estimated that close to 10.7% of people worldwide over the age of 65 have some form of diagnosed dementia. This large percentage creates undue financial and caretaking burdens on family members and heavily impacts healthcare systems. While a cure for dementia is not known, researching this condition paves the way for treatments that could help millions of families. However, for these treatments to be effective, one should consider demographic information, such as biological sex, as a key variable in their studies. The correlation of demographic differences to the development of dementia has yet to be thoroughly studied. To investigate potential sex differences in dementia-related cognitive decline, we used data from The Aging, Dementia, and TBI Study from the Allen Institute for Brain Science that included a variety of patient cognitive assessments—such as the Braak and the NIA-Reagan criteria. Our results indicate a significant correlation between biological sex and the severity of neurodegeneration. Our findings suggest that sex as a biological variable should be given deep consideration when assessing the prognosis of neurodegenerative disorders in human patient populations.