Why women are more likely to have dementia than men as they age, and how exercise and engagement can help lower your risk
- Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and women tend to outlive men, which may partly explain why more women are diagnosed with it
- Sex hormone and other bodily differences, and social factors, may play a part; experts suggest ways how to offset risk, including exercise and social engagement
I am constantly aware that I may develop dementia, the illness that now compromises my mother. One factor that fuels my fear is that I share her gender.
Women are far more likely than men to succumb to dementia. Nearly two-thirds of the five million Americans living with Alzheimer’s – the most common form of dementia – are women.
Christopher Beam, an assistant professor of psychology and gerontology at the University of Southern California, offers some insights. He recently published a study which showed that the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – that is, the number of new cases at different ages in our lifespans – was about the same in men as women until we reach our mid-80s.
At around 85, the rates of any type of dementia – Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies (a type of protein build-up in the brain) – begin to decline faster in men than women.
