A recent study found that scoring verbal memory tests according to sex can alter who receives a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by as much as 20%.

Evidence shows that females tend to have better verbal memory than males, and yet, tests that assess cognitive ability do not reflect this.

In the new study, the researchers scored memory tests using different norms and thresholds, or cut-off scores, for males and females.

They found that using sex-specific scores led to 10% more females and 10% fewer males receiving a diagnosis of MCI compared with scores that used averages.

The team suggests that should further studies validate the findings, they could change the way that doctors diagnose males and females for dementia.

"If these results are confirmed, they have vital implications," says first study author Erin E. Sundermann, Ph.D., a scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

She explains that one of the consequences of identifying people as having no memory difficulties when they actually have MCI is that they do not start treatment when they should. This can also mean that they and their families do not begin planning future care and putting affairs in order.

Conversely, inaccurately diagnosing someone with MCI when they do not have it means that they take unnecessary drugs, and they and their families experience undue stress.

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