Scientists unsure why women at greater risk
Print Edition
At age 65, seemingly healthy women have about a 1 in 6 chance of developing Alzheimer's during the rest of their lives, compared with a 1 in 11 chance for men. Scientists once thought the disparity was because women tend to live longer 鈥 but there鈥檚 increasing agreement that something else makes women more vulnerable.
鈥淲omen are really at the epicenter of the Alzheimer鈥檚 disease crisis,鈥 said Dr Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 really understand what this is all about.鈥
A series of studies presented on Tuesday at the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association International Conference uncovered signs of that vulnerability well before Alzheimer鈥檚 symptoms hit.
First, Duke University researchers compared nearly 400 men and women with mild cognitive impairment, early memory changes that don鈥檛 interfere with everyday activities but that mark an increased risk for developing Alzheimer鈥檚. They measured these people鈥檚 cognitive abilities over an average of four years and as long as eight years for some participants.
The men鈥檚 scores on an in-depth test of memory and thinking skills declined a point a year while the women鈥檚 scores dropped by two points a year.
Age, education levels and even whether people carried the ApoE-4 gene that increases the risk of late-in-life Alzheimer鈥檚 couldn鈥檛 account for the difference, said Duke medical student Katherine Lin, who co-authored the study with Duke psychiatry professor Dr P. Murali Doraiswamy. The study wasn鈥檛 large or long enough to tell whether women were more at risk of progressing to full dementia.
Researchers said larger Alzheimer鈥檚 prevention studies should start analyzing gender differences for more clues. Two other studies offered additional hints of differences in women鈥檚 brains.
Amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer鈥檚, and growing levels can help indicate who鈥檚 at risk before symptoms ever appear.
鈥淥verall, women have more amyloid than men,鈥 said Dr Michael Weiner of the University of California, San Francisco.
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