Gender-specificities in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.
BACKGROUND
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a condition with an increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Presently, gender differences are neglected in the assessment of MCI and AD.


METHODS
We examined verbal and visuospatial episodic memory in 143 subjects diagnosed as healthy controls (HC; N = 48, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) 29.2 +/- 1.0 (mean +/- standard deviation)), MCI (N = 43,MMSE 28.5 +/- 1.4), and AD (N = 49, MMSE 25.1 +/- 2.2).


RESULTS
Female HC and MCI subjects performed better on verbal episodic memory tasks than males. In contrast, visuospatial episodic memory was better in male than female AD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
We interpret the results in light of a gender-specific cognitive reserve and conclude that the gender-specificity of neuropsychological performance needs to be accounted for in clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Beinhoff
U
U
Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health and Old Age Psychiatry, Charité Medical University, Eschenallee 3, 14050 Berlin, Germany.
Tumani
H
H
Brettschneider
J
J
Bittner
D
D
Riepe
M W
MW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology