title: Gender-Specific Differences in Cognitive Profiles of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Results of the Prospective Dementia Registry Austria (PRODEM-Austria).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common age-related diseases in the western world. Gender differences in neuropsychological functions are seldom evaluated in AD.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Recent investigations suggested that gender may be an important modifying factor in the development and progression of AD. We examined gender-specific differences in the pattern of cognitive dysfunction of patients with mild to moderate AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 113 males (mean age 78) and 173 females (mean age 80) of the prospective registry on dementia in Austria (PRODEM). We analyzed differences in the cognitive profile between male and female AD patients on the CERAD-Plus test battery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found gender-related differences in the neuropsychological domains of verbal learning; the women tended to perform worse than men. Controlling for depression, stage and duration of dementia, and the level of education, there was still a significant effect of gender on verbal episodic memory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an interaction between gender and cognitive function, most notable in verbal episodic memory; female patients in the early stage of AD performed worse on verbal episodic memory than men. This indicates that the gender-specificities of neuropsychological functions should be given careful consideration in clinical diagnosis of dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pusswald
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lehrner
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dal-Bianco
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Benke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Regional Hospital Hall in Tirol, Austria.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marksteiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Division of Neurogeriatrics, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mosbacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, General Hospital Linz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ransmayr
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Guenter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Division of Neurogeriatrics, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications*; D001317:Austria; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012733:Sex Differentiation
keywords: Alzheimer’s dementia; Alzheimer’s disease; cognitive function; episodic memory; gender differences