Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Jun 1;77(6):1005-1016. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbab226.
Differences between men and women are common in published research on aging and Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). What do these differences mean? To answer this, rigorous measurement is needed. We investigated current methods for measuring sex/gender in aging and AD/ADRD cohort studies.
An online survey was sent to National Institute on Aging-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (n = 38) and investigator-initiated cohort studies (n = 38) to assess practices around enrollment of men and women and measurement of sex and gender.
The response rate was 65.8% (n = 50). All enrolled men and all but two investigator-initiated studies enrolled women. Most cohorts (43/50) had no documented definitions for categories of "men" or "women." Over 85% of cohorts relied solely on self-report questions to capture sex/gender data (n = 43/50). Issues with administration were also identified (n = 7).
Our findings identify gaps in current approaches used to measure sex and gender in aging and AD/ADRD research. We discuss opportunities to bridge these gaps and advance measurement of sex and gender in aging and AD/ADRD research. Changes are needed to ensure inclusion and representation of sociocultural diversity in research samples, and consistency in data collection in aging and AD/ADRD research.
在关于衰老和阿尔茨海默病及相关痴呆症（AD/ADRD）的研究中，男性和女性之间的差异很常见。这些差异意味着什么？为了回答这个问题，需要进行严格的测量。我们调查了目前在衰老和 AD/ADRD 队列研究中测量性别/性别的方法。
向美国国立卫生研究院衰老研究所资助的阿尔茨海默病研究中心（n=38）和研究员发起的队列研究（n=38）发送了在线调查，以评估男性和女性入组以及性别测量的实践情况。
回复率为 65.8%（n=50）。所有入组的男性和除两个研究员发起的研究外，所有女性都入组了。大多数队列（43/50）没有记录“男性”或“女性”类别的定义。超过 85%的队列仅依靠自我报告问题来收集性别数据（n=43/50）。还发现了一些管理方面的问题（n=7）。
我们的研究结果发现了目前在衰老和 AD/ADRD 研究中测量性别和性别的方法中存在的差距。我们讨论了弥合这些差距并推进衰老和 AD/ADRD 研究中性别测量的机会。需要进行变革，以确保在研究样本中纳入和代表社会文化多样性，并在衰老和 AD/ADRD 研究中保持数据收集的一致性。
