You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 50 No. 7, July 1993 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  ARTICLE
 This Article
 • Reply to article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal

Gender differences on a brief measure of cognitive functioning in Alzheimer's disease

J. G. Buckwalter, E. Sobel, M. E. Dunn, M. M. Diz and V. W. Henderson
Ethal Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90033-1084.

OBJECTIVE--We evaluated scores on a brief psychometric screening instrument--the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)--for possible effects of gender, hypothesizing that women with Alzheimer's disease (AD) would perform more poorly than men. A significant gender difference was to be explored with post hoc item analyses. DESIGN--Case-study design. A hierarchical regression procedure controlled for the possible influence on MMSE performance of demographic variables (eg, age, duration of dementia symptoms, education, and family history of dementia) before the effect of gender was analyzed. SETTING--Data were gathered by trained neuropsychological examiners from subjects enrolled in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. SUBJECTS--One hundred forty-two subjects who met strict criteria for probable AD and 121 nondemented elderly subjects were included in the study. All subjects underwent periodic neuropsychological testing. We extracted MMSE scores and demographic data to test the hypothesis that women would perform more poorly than men on the MMSE. CRITERION MEASURE--The MMSE was chosen because of its wide use in clinical and research settings to screen for the presence or severity of dementia. RESULTS--After controlling for the demographic variables for subjects with AD, we observed a significant difference in the predicted direction for total MMSE score, but there was no significant gender effect on the MMSE for the nondemented elderly sample. Among subjects with AD, gender-associated differences were limited to only a subset of MMSE items. CONCLUSIONS--Results imply that MMSE performance may differ between men and women with AD and that differences might pertain only to discrete areas of cognitive functioning. Although gender effects were relatively small, findings indicate the relevance of gender to studies of AD.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Differences in Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Patterns in Male versus Female Patients with Alzheimer Disease
Hanyu et al.
Am. J. Neuroradiol. 2004;25:1199-1204.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Rate of Cognitive Decline in Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease: The Role of Comorbidity
Backman et al.
J. Gerontol. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 2003;58:P228-236.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Functional Transitions and Active Life Expectancy Associated With Alzheimer Disease
Dodge et al.
Arch Neurol 2003;60:253-259.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Gender differences in predictors of mortality in nursing home residents with AD
Lapane et al.
Neurology 2001;56:650-654.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Affective behavioural disturbances in Alzheimer's disease and ischaemic vascular disease
Hargrave et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2000;68:41-46.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Gender differences in the relation between comorbidity and mortality of patients with Alzheimer's disease
Gambassi et al.
Neurology 1999;53:508-508.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Women and Alzheimer's Disease
Lerner
J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 1999;84:1830-1834.
FULL TEXT  

Prevalence of intellectual dysfunctioning and its correlates in a community-residing elderly population
Nakanishi et al.
Scand J Public Health 1998;26:198-203.
ABSTRACT  

Procedural discourse of men and women with Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study with clinical implications
Ripich et al.
AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMEN 1997;12:258-271.
ABSTRACT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1993 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.