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Reproductive period and dementia: A 44‐year longitudinal population study of Swedish women
Author(s) -
Najar Jenna,
Östling Svante,
Waern Margda,
Zettergren Anna,
Kern Silke,
Wetterberg Hanna,
Hällström Tore,
Skoog Ingmar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.12118
Subject(s) - dementia , menopause , menarche , hazard ratio , incidence (geometry) , medicine , demography , longitudinal study , population , confidence interval , gerontology , pediatrics , gynecology , disease , obstetrics , environmental health , physics , pathology , sociology , optics
Longitudinal studies examining the effect of endogenous estrogens on dementia risk are needed to understand why women have higher dementia incidence than men after age 85. Methods A population‐based sample of women with natural menopause (N = 1364) from Gothenburg, Sweden, was followed from 1968‐2012. Information on endogenous estrogens (age at menarche and menopause, number of pregnancies, and months of breastfeeding) was obtained from interviews in 1968‐1992. Dementia was diagnosed according to established criteria based on information from neuropsychiatric examinations and close informant interviews. Results We found that longer reproductive period was associated with increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio [HR] per year 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03‐1.20) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (1.06, 1.02‐1.11), particularly for those with dementia (1.10, 1.04‐1.17) and AD (1.15, 1.06‐1.26) onset after age 85. Discussion These results may explain why women have higher dementia incidence compared to men after age 85, the age with the highest number of dementia cases.