Gender differences in cognitive performance among health volunteers of SANSCOG cohort

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundWomen are at higher risk of AD probably due to longer life span. However, differences in cognitive performance across gender among normal aging individuals is inconclusive. Srinivaspura Aging, Neuro Senescence and COGnition (SANSCOG) is a longitudinal study in healthy aging individuals in a town located near Bangalore, India.MethodOur objective was to compare cognitive performances at baseline assessment measured by COGNITO battery and HMSE between men and women participants of SANSCOG cohort who did not have dementia.ResultIn a sample of 2354 individuals, 1141 (48.5%) were women. Men were older and had more years of education when compared to women. Generalized linear models were constructed which used age and education as confounding variables revealed that males performed better than females on global cognition (β = ‐0.62, p < 0.001). When we examined individual domains, men achieved better scores in visuospatial domain and attention domain, however, women achieved better scores in memory domain. In the language domain, females scored more than males in semantic association test but males scored more in semantic fluency. There was no difference found in executive function domain.ConclusionWe have demonstrated that healthy rural Indian women perform poorly in global cognition and attention suggesting that they are at greater risk of developing dementia.