Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory for Sex Differences in the Brain, Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine (ICON-X), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center, Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
J Neuropsychol. 2023 Mar;17(1):146-160. doi: 10.1111/jnp.12291. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
The current study aimed to understand how sex differences in the timing of hypertension onset contribute to early midlife risk for cognitive decline that may differ by sex and whether sex-dependent advantages in normotensive populations are influenced by the presence of hypertension. One hundred and ninety-five adults aged 45-55 from the New England Family Study underwent neuropsychological testing to assess attention, executive function, and memory. Physician-diagnosed hypertension status was self-reported via questionnaire. Mid-adulthood hypertension was associated with worse performance on measures of attention and memory, but the cognitive domains impacted varied by sex. Hypertension was associated with only attention in men, whereas in women it was associated with attention and associative and working memory. Sex differences in midlife cognitive performance found in normotensive adults were attenuated in those with hypertension. Our results underscore the importance of accounting for sex when assessing the impact of hypertension on midlife cognition that could be indicative of later decline and risk for cognitive impairment and dementia, given hypertension is an independent risk factor.
本研究旨在探讨高血压发病时间的性别差异如何导致中年早期认知能力下降的风险增加，这种风险可能因性别而异，以及在正常血压人群中是否存在性别依赖性优势是否会受到高血压的影响。新英格兰家族研究中的 195 名年龄在 45-55 岁的成年人接受了神经心理学测试，以评估注意力、执行功能和记忆力。通过问卷自我报告医生诊断的高血压状况。中年期高血压与注意力和记忆力测试的表现较差有关，但受影响的认知领域因性别而异。高血压仅与男性的注意力有关，而与女性的注意力以及联想和工作记忆有关。在正常血压成年人中发现的中年认知表现的性别差异在患有高血压的成年人中减弱。我们的研究结果强调了在评估高血压对中年认知的影响时考虑性别的重要性，因为高血压是一个独立的风险因素，这种影响可能预示着以后的认知能力下降和认知障碍以及痴呆的风险。
