Why dementia hits women harder than men (living too long trends)

[C C]

...and health care systems of countries potentially overwhelmed by current and future numbers. Dementia is a hypernym that includes Alzheimer's.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180705...e-than-men

EXCERPT: . . . In Australia, nearly two-thirds of all dementia-related deaths were women; in the US, two-thirds of those living with the disease are women, too. In some cases, dementia even outstrips more famously ‘female’ diseases: US women over 60 are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as breast cancer. (Breast cancer remains the leading cause of death for UK women aged 35 to 49). And in England and Wales as well as in Australia, dementia has become the leading cause of death for women, knocking heart disease off the top spot.

“This can’t be sustained by any medical health system – it is too much in terms of numbers, says Antonella Santuccione-Chadha, a physician and Alzheimer’s specialist based in Switzerland. “And as women are more confronted by the disease, we need to investigate the differences between the male and female specifics of it.” Much of the gender gap comes down to one of dementia’s biggest risk factors: age. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop late-onset Alzheimer’s. Women typically live longer than men, so more have dementia....

MORE: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180705...e-than-men

[confused2]

"Death by dementia" is a somewhat nebulous thing. I suspect (perhaps wrongly) that the brain stem can keep the body going long after Elvis leaves the building. There must be points of being pushed, jumping and falling. I thought my mother fought to stay alive long after I could see any point or purpose. Recently a male friend died within a few months 'of dementia'. Could it be that males (voluntarily) shuffle off this mortal coil more readily than females?

[C C]

[...] I thought my mother fought to stay alive long after I could see any point or purpose. Recently a male friend died within a few months 'of dementia'. Could it be that males (voluntarily) shuffle off this mortal coil more readily than females?

With one paralyzed exception who was male, all the long enduring bed-ridden cases in the extended family that come to mind were women. Clinging on despite some terrible pain. None afflicted with dementia, though; or at least nothing severe enough that I noticed or remember it being discussed.

~

[Magical Realist]

My mother had vascular dementia that gradually disabled her from walking. She was right about to go to the wheelchair and started falling down. One fall landed her in the hospital for a checkup, and it was found she had pneumonia. In the treatment of that with antibiotics it taxed her kidneys beyond what she could handle and they shut down in a matter of days and she died asleep, which isn't a bad way to go. But all of this came from her dementia, which I had no idea could indirectly cause death. One thing leads to another very quickly, especially when you're 80 yrs old.