# Sex/gender differences in lifetime dementia risk among Asian American and White older adults

## TL;DR

The study found that women across various racial groups have a higher lifetime risk of dementia compared to men.

## Contribution

The paper provides new insights into sex/gender differences in dementia risk among Asian American and White older adults.

## Key findings

- Lifetime dementia risk was consistently higher among women across all racial groups.
- The largest difference was observed in South Asian women, with a 21 percentage point higher risk compared to men.

## Abstract

Evidence on differences in dementia risk by sex and gender is mixed. We aimed to compare lifetime dementia risk by sex/gender among Asian American and non-Latino White adults aged 60 and older. We included Chinese (n = 6415), Filipino (n = 5020), Japanese (n = 3314), South Asian (n = 1061), and non-Latino White (n = 143,667) Kaiser Permanente Northern California members aged ≥60 years who completed health surveys (2002–2020) and were dementia-free at baseline. We estimated cause-specific cumulative dementia incidence from age 60 to 95 years (i.e., lifetime dementia risk, treating death as a competing event) and evaluated sex/gender differences. Lifetime dementia risk was higher among women in all groups, ranging from 7 (95% CI: 2–13) percentage points higher for Japanese women vs. men to 21 (8–38) percentage points higher for South Asian women vs. men. Variations of sex/gender differences across racial and ethnic groups are potentially driven by dementia-free mortality and social and structural factors.