Sex differences in cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease

Table 1 Sex differences in studies assessing fluency and naming in the elderly

Ref.	Sample size		MMSE		Tasks	Finding
	M	F	M	F
Marra et al[41]	85	168	19.1	17.6	CF (fu)	NS
					CF (b)	M > F
Monsch et al[42]	43	46			LF (F, A, S)	NS
					CF (s, n)	NS
					CF (a + f + ve)	F > M
Beinhoff et al[45]	26	23	25.6	24.7	CF (a)	NS
					CN	NS
Henderson et al[46]	22	24			CN	M > F
Henderson et al[46]	270	377	17.5	17.3	CF (a)	M > F
					CN	M > F
Moreno-Martinez et al[49]	28	33	21.2	18.9	CF (I, tr, v, t, mi)	M > F
					CF (a, fl, f, fu, k, c, bg, bp)	NS
Randolph et al[53]	129	196			CN	M > F
Buckwalter et al[55]	72	87	17.8	16.5	CN	M > F
McPherson et al[77]	23	36	23.3	22.2	LF (F, A, S)	NS
					CF (a)	NS
					CN	M > F
Ripich et al[78]	29	31			LF (F, A, S)	NS
					CN	M > F
Bayles et al[79]	30	33	15.2	15.9	LF (A, S)	NS
					CF (a, f)	NS
					CN	NS
Perneczky et al[81]	50	43	23.9	23.0	CF (a)	NS
					CN	M > F
Henderson et al[136]	26	27	13.8	11.8	LF (F, A, S)	NS
					CF (a)	NS
					CN	NS

F: Female; M: Male; NS: Not significant; MMSE: Mini mental state examination; CF: Category fluency; CN: Confrontation naming; LF: Lexical fluency; CF: Categories; a: Animals; b: Birds; bg: Buildings; bp: Body parts; c: Clothing; f: Fruit; fl: Flowers; fu: Furniture; i: Insects; k: Kitchen utensils; mi: Musical instruments; n: First names; s: Supermarket items; t: Tools, tr: Trees; v: Vehicles; ve: Vegetables.

Table 2 Studies assessing sex differences in visuospatial abilities for Alzheimer’s disease patients

Ref.	Sample size		MMSE		Tasks	Finding
	M	F	M	F
Beinhoff et al[45]	26	23	25.6	24.7	FC	M > F
Henderson et al[46]	22	24	Not given		FC	NS
Henderson et al[46]	270	377	17.5	17.3	FC	NS
Buckwalter et al[55]	72	87	17.8	16.5	BD	NS
					FC	NS
Perneczky et al[81]	50	43	23.9	23.0	FC	NS
Cushman et al[90]	22	12	24.03		JLO	NS
Heun et al[101]	171	267	15.5	16.3	FC	M > F
Millet et al[102]	20	20			Corsi,	NS
					Corsi (b), VPT	M > F
Henderson et al[136]	26	27	13.8	11.8	FC	NS

M: Male; F: Female; NS: Not significant; MMSE: Mini mental state examination; BD: Block design; Corsi: Corsi block tapping; Corsi (b): Corsi block tapping (backwards); FC: Figure copying; JLO: Judgment of line orientation; VPT: Vecchi’s pathway task.

Table 3 Cohen’s d effect sizes (95%CI) in different cognitive domains

Ref.	Sample size			Semantic	Non-semantic	Verbal	Visual-spatial	Memory
	M	F	Total	d	d	d	d	d
Marra et al[41]	85	168	253	-0.23		-0.23
Beinhoff et al[45]	26	23	49	-0.07	-0.44	-0.22	-0.60	-0.37
Hendersen et al[46]	22	24	46	-0.37	-0.37	-0.37	-0.18
Hendersen et al[46]	270	377	647	-0.30	-0.12	-0.30	-0.11	-0.12
Moreno-Martinez et al[50]	28	33	61	-0.42		-0.42
Buckwalter et al[55]	72	87	159	-0.46	-0.24	-0.46	-0.24
McPherson et al[71]	23	36	59	-0.24	-0.54	-0.35		-0.71
Ripich et al[78]	29	31	60	-0.74		-0.74
Bayles et al[79]	30	33	63	-0.10		-0.10
Perneczky et al[81]	50	43	93	-0.24	-0.12	-0.20	0.02	-0.17
Heun et al[101]	17	76	93		-0.18		-0.62	-0.04
Millet et al[102]	20	20	40		-0.40	0.08	-0.63	-0.40
Laiacona et al[107]	11	15	26	-0.29		-0.29
Hendersen et al[136]	26	27	53	-0.26	-0.22	-0.09	-0.44	-0.15
Hebert et al[137]	119	245	364	-0.23	0.04	-0.09
Total	828	1238	2066	-0.25 (-0.42 to -0.07)	-0.14 (-0.26 to -0.02)	-0.27 (-0.37 to -0.16)	-0.24 (-0.43 to -0.05)	-0.17 (-0.33 to 0.01)

Negative effect sizes favour men and positive effect sizes favour women; numbers in parenthesis are 95%CIs. M: Male; F: Female.