{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:17:27Z","timestamp":1785428247376,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784592000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005416","name":"The Research Council of Norway","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["288164"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["288164"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005416","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["288164"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["288164"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00epmv149","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"The KG Jebsen Foundation","award":["SKGJ-MED-023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SKGJ-MED-023"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Sex differences in cognitive impairment in Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) have been reported, with several studies suggesting greater cognitive decline in males. However, evidence on long-term trajectories across specific cognitive domains is limited, as most prior work is cross-sectional. Aim: To investigate sex-specific longitudinal changes across multiple cognitive domains over 9 years in idiopathic PD, compared to age- and sex-matched controls. Methods: We analyzed data from the prospective ParkWest study, including n = 190 persons with PD (PwPs) and n = 202 controls. Regularly assessed cognitive domains included semantic fluency, processing speed, cognitive control, memory, and visuospatial ability. Linear mixed-effect models including a three-way interaction between time, disease status, and sex, to test whether sex-specific cognitive change in PD differed from that observed in controls, were estimated. Models were adjusted for age, years of education, baseline depression, and UPDRS part II. Results: Male PwPs showed faster decline than female PwPs in most cognitive measures, resulting in gradually increasing sex differences over 9 years. However, compared with controls, the differential sex-specific decline was statistically significant only for semantic fluency (p = 0.013) and processing speed (p = 0.027 and p = 0.035). These findings remained significant after covariate adjustment. Conclusions: PD was associated with increasing sex differences in semantic fluency and processing speed, likely driven by faster decline in males. Other domains did not show sex-specific divergence over time, suggesting that sex-specific vulnerabilities in cognitive trajectories are domain-specific rather than generalized among PwPs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci16070764","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T10:35:52Z","timestamp":1784630152000},"page":"764","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Sex-Specific Cognitive Divergence in Parkinson\u2019s Disease"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-8713-5343","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia Saltyte","family":"Benth","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuro-SysMed, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gonzalo Sanchez","family":"Nido","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuro-SysMed, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"K.G. Jebsen Center for Translational Research in Parkinson\u2019s Disease, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kenn Freddy","family":"Pedersen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Lillehammer Hospital, Innlandet Hospital Trust, 2690 Lillehammer, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ole Bj\u00f8rn","family":"Tysnes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuro-SysMed, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0630-2870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guido Werner","family":"Alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and Center for Movement Disorders, Stavanger University Hospital, 4068 Stavanger, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Bioscience and Environmental Engineering, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0341-5191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charalampos","family":"Tzoulis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuro-SysMed, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"K.G. Jebsen Center for Translational Research in Parkinson\u2019s Disease, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5527-5739","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geir Olve","family":"Skeie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuro-SysMed, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"},{"name":"K.G. Jebsen Center for Translational Research in Parkinson\u2019s Disease, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3052","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awaa234","article-title":"Sex Effects on Brain Structure in de Novo Parkinson\u2019s Disease: A Multimodal Neuroimaging Study","volume":"143","author":"Tremblay","year":"2020","journal-title":"Brain"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1404","DOI":"10.1212\/01.WNL.0000158422.41380.82","article-title":"Cognitive Status Correlates with Neuropathologic Stage in Parkinson Disease","volume":"64","author":"Braak","year":"2005","journal-title":"Neurology"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chinese Parkinson Study Group, Song, Y., Gu, Z., An, J., and Chan, P. (2014). Gender Differences on Motor and Non-Motor Symptoms of de Novo Patients with Early Parkinson\u2019s Disease. Neurol. 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