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Association between C-reactive protein and cognitive deficits in elderly men and women: a meta-analysis
International Psychogeriatrics, 07/18/2012
Evidence Based Medicine
Clinical Article
Hedges DW et al. – In the context of a small number of source studies and lack of an all–male group, these results suggest that any association between C–reactive protein and cognitive deficits may be stronger in elderly men than in elderly women.
Methods- To better understand the association between C–reactive protein, cognitive deficit, and gender in elderly people, the authors meta–analyzed cross–sectional studies that reported cognitive ability assessed by the Mini–Mental State Examination or an equivalent measure, C–reactive protein concentrations, and gender.
- While the authors identified no studies containing only male subjects, the two identified studies containing both female and male subjects (n = 2,525) showed an effect size for cognition of –0.1809 (95% confidence interval, –0.2652 to –0.0967, p = 0.000025) between high and low C–reactive–protein groups.
- In contrast, the two identified studies containing only female subjects (n = 1,754) showed an effect size for cognition of 0.0345 (95% confidence interval, –0.0594 to 0.1285, not significant).
