Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2019 Aug 1;29(4):667-674.
doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cky266.

Gender differences in cognitive function and grip strength: a cross-national comparison of four European regions

Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt  1 , Lasse Lybecker Scheel-Hincke  1 , Søren Kjærgaard  2 , Sören Möller  3   4 , Kaare Christensen  1   5   6   7 , Rune Lindahl-Jacobsen  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Gender differences in cognitive function and grip strength: a cross-national comparison of four European regions

Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt et al. Eur J Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Cross-national comparison studies on gender differences have mainly focussed on life expectancy, while less research has examined differences in health across countries. We aimed to investigate gender differences in cognitive function and grip strength over age and time across European regions.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study including 51 292 men and 62 007 women aged 50 + participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe between 2004-05 and 2015. Linear regression models were used to examine associations.

Results: In general, women had better cognitive function than men, whereas men had higher grip strength measures. Sex differences were consistent over time, but decreased with age. Compared with men, women had higher cognitive scores at ages 50-59, corresponding to 0.17 SD (95% CI 0.14, 0.20) but slightly lower scores at ages 80-89 (0.08 SD, 95% CI 0.14, 0.00). For grip strength, the sex difference decreased from 18.8 kg (95% CI 18.5, 19.1) at ages 50-59 to 8.5 kg (95% CI 7.1, 9.9) at age 90 + . Northern Europeans had higher cognitive scores (19.6%) and grip strength measures (13.8%) than Southern Europeans. Gender differences in grip strength were similar across regions, whereas for cognitive function they varied considerably, with Southern Europe having a male advantage from ages 60-89.

Conclusion: Our results illustrate that gender differences in health depend on the selected health dimension and the age group studied, and emphasize the importance of considering regional differences in research on cognitive gender differences.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Cognitive function over age groups for men and women in four European regions. (B–F) Gender differences in cognitive function for 20 European countries combined (B) and for the four European regions separately (C–F) over age groups and time in SHARE waves 1 (2004–05), 2 (2006–07), 4 (2011), 5 (2013) and 6 (2015)
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Grip strength over age groups for men and women in four European regions. (B–F) Gender differences in grip strength for 20 European countries combined (B) and for the four regions separately (C–F) over age groups and time in SHARE waves 1 (2004–05), 2 (2006–07), 4 (2011), 5 (2013) and 6 (2015)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Weber D, Skirbekk V, Freund I, Herlitz A. The changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014;111:11673–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Flynn JR. Searching for justice: the discovery of IQ gains over time. Am Psychol 1999;54:5–20.
    1. Voyer D, Voyer S, Bryden MP. Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: a meta-analysis and consideration of critical variables. Psychol Bull 1995; 117:250–70. - PubMed
    1. Halpern DF, Benbow CP, Geary DC et al. . The science of sex differences in Science and Mathematics. Psychol Sci Public Interest 2007;8:1–51. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hedges LV, Nowell A. Sex differences in mental test scores, variability, and numbers of high-scoring individuals. Science 1995;269:41–5. - PubMed

Publication types