Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34006267›Full record

ArticleBMC medicine2021

Sex differences in the association between major cardiovascular risk factors in midlife and dementia: a cohort study using data from the UK Biobank.

Jessica Gong, Katie Harris, Sanne A E Peters, Mark Woodward

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Article in BMC medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
56citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

56 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  11. Cardiovascular contributions to dementia: Examining sex differences and female-specific factors.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jessica GongThe George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Level 5, 1 King St, Newtown, NSW, 2042, Australia. jgong@georgeinstitute.org.au.ORCID 0000-0001-6027-7640
Katie HarrisThe George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Level 5, 1 King St, Newtown, NSW, 2042, Australia.
Sanne A E PetersThe George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Level 5, 1 King St, Newtown, NSW, 2042, Australia.
Mark WoodwardThe George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Level 5, 1 King St, Newtown, NSW, 2042, Australia.

Funding

British Heart Foundation CH/1996001/9454Medical Research Council MC_PC_17228Medical Research Council MC_QA137853Medical Research Council MR/P014550/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSex differences in major cardiovascular risk factors for incident (fatal or non-fatal) all-cause dementia were assessed in the UK Biobank. The effects of these risk factors on all-cause dementia were explored by age and socioeconomic status (SES).

methodsCox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and women-to-men ratio of HRs (RHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), smoking, diabetes, adiposity, stroke, SES and lipids with dementia. Poisson regression was used to estimate the sex-specific incidence rate of dementia for these risk factors.

results502,226 individuals in midlife (54.4% women, mean age 56.5 years) with no prevalent dementia were included in the analyses. Over 11.8 years (median), 4068 participants (45.9% women) developed dementia. The crude incidence rates were 5.88 [95% CI 5.62-6.16] for women and 8.42 [8.07-8.78] for men, per 10,000 person-years. Sex was associated with the risk of dementia, where the risk was lower in women than men (HR = 0.83 [0.77-0.89]). Current smoking, diabetes, high adiposity, prior stroke and low SES were associated with a greater risk of dementia, similarly in women and men. The relationship between blood pressure (BP) and dementia was U-shaped in men but had a dose-response relationship in women: the HR for SBP per 20 mmHg was 1.08 [1.02-1.13] in women and 0.98 [0.93-1.03] in men. This sex difference was not affected by the use of antihypertensive medication at baseline. The sex difference in the effect of raised BP was consistent for dementia subtypes (vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease).

conclusionsSeveral mid-life cardiovascular risk factors were associated with dementia similarly in women and men, but not raised BP. Future bespoke BP-lowering trials are necessary to understand its role in restricting cognitive decline and to clarify any sex difference.

Indexed as

Cardiovascular DiseasesDementia, VascularHypertensionBiological Specimen BanksBlood PressureCohort StudiesFemaleHeart Disease Risk FactorsHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedRisk FactorsSex CharacteristicsSex FactorsUnited KingdomDementiaRisk factorSex differenceUK Biobank

Identifiers

PMID34006267
PMCPMC8132382

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.