Tamara Thomas

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A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that women who had stressful life experiences in midlife demonstrated higher memory decline in later life.
Previous studies have found that women have a higher risk of developing dementia, but it&#8217;s not clear why. Some studies suggest that sex differences in the effect of stress may play a role in cognitive problems.
For this study, Dr. Cynthia Munro, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined how recent and even age-long traumatic events can affect cognitive changes.
About 900 Baltimore adults were included in the study, 572 of whom were women and 337 men. The women were mainly White (63%), and their mean age was 47.
The participants were enrolled in the study between 1981 and 1983. Following enrollment, they participated in interviews and checkups on three occasions: in 1982, between 1993 and 1996, and between 2003 and 2004.
During their third visit, the researchers asked the participants if they had experienced any traumatic effects like combat, rape, living through a natural disaster, or other traumatic events in the past year. About 22% of men and 23% of women reported at least one traumatic event within the past year before their visit.
The researchers also asked the participants about stressful life experiences such as marriage, divorce, the death of a loved one, job loss, or the birth of a child. About 47% of men and 50% of women reported having at least one stressful life experience the year before their visit.
During their final visits, Dr. Munro and the team tested the participants using a standardized learning and memory test developed by Iowa researchers.
The researchers observed that having increased stressful life experiences over a year in midlife made it harder for women to recall and recognize words. According to the findings, women who experienced no stressful life experiences within the past year at the third visit could remember, on average, 0.5 fewer words when given the same memory test at the fourth visit. However, on average, women with one or more stressful life experiences recalled one fewer words at the fourth visit than they had at the third visit. 
In addition, Dr. Munro and colleagues found that the ability to recognize words declined by an average of 1.7 words for women with at least one stressor at the third visit compared with women without stressors at midlife ( a 1.2-word decline).
Interestingly, the researchers did not see a similar association between men&#8217;s decline in word recall or recognition and experiencing stressful life experiences or traumatic events in midlife.
The researchers also found that experiencing stress much earlier in life did not predict whether brain function would decrease over time.
“We can’t get rid of stressors, but we might adjust the way we respond to stress and have a real effect on brain function as we age,” says Dr. Cynthia Munro. 
“And although our study did not show the same association for men, it sheds further light on the effects of stress response on the brain with potential application to both men and women,” she adds.
Source:<a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/2019/08/stressors-in-middle-age-linked-to-cognitive-decline-in-older-women"> Johns Hopkins Medicine</a>
Journal:<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.5102"> International Journal of Geriatric Psychology</a>

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Researchers learned that having stressful life experiences over a one-year period in midlife made it harder for women to recall and recognize words.