The study appeared in the December issue of Diabetes Care:
Type 2 Diabetes as a Risk Factor for Dementia in Women Compared With Men: A Pooled Analysis of 2.3 Million People Comprising More Than 100,000 Cases of Dementia, Diabetes Care, 17 December 2015
CONCLUSIONS Individuals with type 2 diabetes are at ∼60% greater risk for the development of dementia compared with those without diabetes. For vascular dementia, but not for nonvascular dementia, the additional risk is greater in women.
For all types of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, men and women had about the same increased relative risk (60%) if they had diabetes. But for vascular dementia, women’s risk was 19% greater than men’s risk.
This was a big study. From Medscape:1
The analysis included data on over 2.3 million people and over 100,000 cases of dementia — more than seven times the data in past reviews on the issue.
Senior author Dr. Rachel Huxley said:1
Diabetes confers a greater risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and now vascular dementia in women compared with men.
Are the sex differences a result of social influences, for example, inadequate care in women? Or are they physiological? More study is needed.
1 Type 2 Diabetes Ups Vascular Dementia Risk in Women, Medscape, 29 December 2015