Abstract

There is an association between stress and dementia. However, less is known about dementia among persons with varied stress responses and sex differences in these associations. This population-based cohort study examined dementia among persons with a range of clinician-diagnosed stress disorders, and the interaction between stress disorders and sex in predicting dementia, in Denmark from 1995 to 2011. This study included Danes 40 years or older with a stress disorder diagnosis (n=47,047) and a matched comparison cohort (n=232,141) without a stress disorder diagnosis from 1995 through 2011. Diagnoses were culled from national registries. We used Cox proportional-hazards regression to estimate associations between stress disorders and dementia. Risk of dementia was higher for persons with stress disorders than for persons without such diagnosis; adjusted hazard ratios ranged from 1.6 to 2.8. There was evidence of an interaction between sex and stress disorders in predicting dementia, with a greater rate of dementia among men with stress disorders except posttraumatic stress disorder, for which women had a greater rate. Results support existing evidence of an association between stress and dementia. This study contributes novel information regarding dementia risk across a range of stress responses, and interactions between stress disorders and sex.

View details for PubMedID 30576420