Measuring Sex and Gender in Aging and Alzheimer’s Research: Results of a National Survey

Shana D Stites, Hannah Cao, Kristin Harkins and Jason D Flatt

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2022, vol. 77, issue 6, 1005-1016

Abstract: ObjectivesDifferences between men and women are common in published research on aging and Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). What do these differences mean? To answer this, rigorous measurement is needed. We investigated current methods for measuring sex/gender in aging and AD/ADRD cohort studies.MethodsAn online survey was sent to National Institute on Aging-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (n = 38) and investigator-initiated cohort studies (n = 38) to assess practices around enrollment of men and women and measurement of sex and gender.ResultsThe response rate was 65.8% (n = 50). All enrolled men and all but two investigator-initiated studies enrolled women. Most cohorts (43/50) had no documented definitions for categories of “men” or “women.” Over 85% of cohorts relied solely on self-report questions to capture sex/gender data (n = 43/50). Issues with administration were also identified (n = 7).DiscussionOur findings identify gaps in current approaches used to measure sex and gender in aging and AD/ADRD research. We discuss opportunities to bridge these gaps and advance measurement of sex and gender in aging and AD/ADRD research. Changes are needed to ensure inclusion and representation of sociocultural diversity in research samples, and consistency in data collection in aging and AD/ADRD research.

Keywords: Aging research; Alzheimer’s research; Biologic sex; Gender; Measurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbab226 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:77:y:2022:i:6:p:1005-1016.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().