%0 Journal Article %J Research on Aging %D 2023 %T Cognition and Diabetes: Examining Sex Differences Using a Longitudinal Sample of Older Adults. %A Palarino, Justin V %A Boardman, Jason D %A Rogers, Richard G %K Cognitive decline %K Diabetes %K Population Health %X

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate sex-based differences in the diabetes status and cognition relationship using a representative sample of older Americans.

METHODS: Using a sample of 19,190 females and 15,580 males from the Health and Retirement Study, we conduct mixed-effects linear regression analyses to examine sex differences in the association between diabetes and cognition over a 20-year follow-up period among older adults in the United States.

MAIN FINDINGS: Females experience slightly steeper declines in cognition that are further exacerbated by diabetes. At age 65, females without diabetes have significantly higher cognition than males; this gap is eliminated by age 85. Among diabetics, there is no initial sex disparity, but females' cognition becomes significantly lower than males' over the following 20 years.

PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS: Relative to males, females are particularly susceptible to diabetes-related declines in cognition with increasing age.

%B Research on Aging %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35418264?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1177/01640275221084282