Sexual Dimorphism in Dementia and Alzheimer Diseases- A Neuropsychiatric Hospital Based Study

Introduction: Dementia which is a highly neglected syndrome in Nigeria is an umbrella of term that houses a group of diseases and illnesses that affect your thinking, memory, reasoning, personality, mood and behavior.Alzheimer’s disease which is the leading cause of dementia disproportionately affects women than men. The objective of the study is to investigate gender and age differences in dementia and AD.

Method: This study retrospectively analyzed eighty-two (82) consecutive patients’ folder who had been diagnosed with dementia and AD in Rivers State Neuropsychiatric Hospital Rumuigbo, Port-Harcourt from the year 2014 to 2020.

Result: The result obtained showed that the mean age for dementia and AD for males and females were 68.44±8.96 and 70.74±12.98 respectively.

Discussion: It was observed that the females are likely to develop dementia and AD the males, with the prevalence rate of 59 (72.0%) for females while 23 (28.0%) were males respectively. The analysis of comorbidities showed that hypertension and depression were major risk factors in males while depression was a major risk factor in females. There was high risk of association between smoking and dementia in males while Alcohol was a high-risk factor for dementia in females.

Conclusion: Early detection plays a major role in the management of dementia and AD, this study therefore advocates for campaign to educate people about the danger of this sickness and set plan for proper management which will go along way reducing the stigmatization that comes with dementia.