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• Posted December 20, 2024

What's the Link Between Memory Problems and Sexism?

Sexism is incredibly toxic to women’s lives, resulting in lower pay, fewer career opportunities, worse health care and a greater risk of violence.

It also can be toxic to their brain health, a new study says.

U.S. women born in the most sexist states experience a faster memory decline in later years than women born in states with more equal rights, researchers reported in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.

In fact, women born in the state with the highest structural sexism -- Mississippi circa 1910 -- experienced memory decline similar to women 9 years older in age, researchers found.

“Our findings suggest that addressing social inequities may be a powerful way to lower the burden of Alzheimer’s among women,” lead researcher Justina Avila-Rieger, an associate research scientist at Columbia University, said in a university news release.

 “Alzheimer’s is a huge societal problem, particularly among women, who account for two-thirds of Americans with the disease,” Avila-Rieger continued. “It’s imperative that we gain a better understanding of what is causing this discrepancy and what can be done about it.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 21,000 women who took part in long-term health studies. The health studies included regular measurements of women’s brain function.

The team also compiled indicators of structural racism for each state in the United States, based on male versus female labor force participation, average earnings, poverty levels, political engagement, and religious conservatism.

Results show that the more sexist in which a woman is born, the more likely she is to suffer age-related memory decline earlier.

This negative impact on memory was strongest among Black women, researchers said.

“It is likely that, for women racialized as Black, the intersectional impact of sexism and racism creates a unique form of oppression that has greater salience for cognitive health than sexism or racism alone,” senior researcher Jennifer Manly, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University, said in a news release.

However, it’s not clear exactly how structural sexism contributes to this memory decline, researchers noted.

“What we do know is structural inequalities shape individual health outcomes by creating barriers to health-enhancing opportunities and resources,” Avila-Rieger said.

“Eventually, these exposures produce disparities in chronic physical health conditions that directly influence brain health, the onset of cognitive impairment and, ultimately, dementia,” Avila-Rieger continued.

In future studies, researchers will focus on the effects of structural sexism on women at different stages of their lives.

“It’s possible that early life exposure may be a critical period for structural inequality, with direct or indirect consequences that accumulate over time,” Avila-Rieger said. “We also need to tease apart which aspects of structural sexism have the most impact on cognitive health. This is important in terms of making recommendations to policy makers.”

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on women and Alzheimer’s disease.

SOURCE: Columbia University, news release, Dec. 18, 2024