- Researchers are reporting that women with atrial fibrillation (AFib) have a higher risk of cognitive decline than women without the condition.
- They also report that women in general have more rapid cognitive decline than men, whether they have AFib or not.
- Experts say AFib is becoming more common and women with the condition are often not properly diagnosed.
Women with atrial fibrillation (AFib) experience a more rapid cognitive decline than women without the condition.
That’s according to a study published today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Researchers analyzed medical records from the
The average person was 78 years old and 46% were women.
Before inclusion in the study, participants needed to have at least three annual clinic visits with neuropsychological tests and were categorized as having normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia.
The scientists looked at the following:
- Atrial fibrillation and baseline cognitive diagnosis
- Atrial fibrillation and the time to progression to a cognitive diagnosis
They adjusted their analysis for age, sex, race, education, body mass index, smoking, depression, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart failure, stroke, and sleep apnea.
The researchers compared men and women with AFib to those without the condition and examined differences by gender.
The findings included:
- Women with AFib were three times more likely to have mild cognitive impairment and dementia at baseline compared to women without AFib.
- Comparisons for men were not considered statistically significant.
At a four-year follow-up, 30% of the participants progressed to a worse cognitive impairment stage while 21% developed dementia.
Women were more likely to continue to a worse state, transitioning from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment…
Read the full article here