Gender differences in behavioral and psychological symptoms of patients with Alzheimer's disease

Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in patients with Alzheimer's disease have a strong correlation with cognitive impairment and impairment in activities of daily living. Although recent studies have reported that gender may play a role in BPSD, this finding was not evident in several other studies. The present study classified patients with Alzheimer's disease into groups with mild and moderate dementia to examine the gender differences in BPSD in each group. We divided a total of 125 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease according to the criteria of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) into groups with mild and moderate dementia. Then we examined whether the groups showed differences in memory functions, activities of daily living, and BPSD depending on gender. Our results showed a significant gender difference in Depression/Dysphoria symptoms (BPSD) among the patients in the mild dementia group (t=-2.344, p<0.05), but there was no significant gender difference among the patients in the moderate dementia group. For both the mild and moderate dementia groups, there were no significant gender differences in memory functions and activities of daily living. The results of this study indicated that female patients with mild dementia are more vulnerable to depression than male patients. Future studies should more continuously examine a variety of factors that affect BPSD depending on the severity of Alzheimer's disease.