Many more - about twice as many - women get Alzheimer's as men and scientists are looking for the cause.
A new US scientific study attributes this mainly to hormonal changes in women during and after menopause. The researchers, led by Dr. Laiza Moskoni of the Weill Cornell Medical Center at Cornell University in New York, published in the journal Neurology of the American Academy of Neurology, analyzed data from 85 women and 36 men aged 40 to 65 years.
Participants underwent cognitive / memory tests, medical examinations, and imaging tests. Specifically, on MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) to determine if their brain had begun to form amyloid beta plaques, the toxic protein that is the "trademark" of Alzheimer's disease.
The study compared men and women based on four key biomarkers for brain health: Tumors of gray matter and white matter, the presence of beta-amyloid plaques and the rate at which the brain metabolizes glucose, a key indicator of brain activity.
It was found that women performed worse in all four of these indicators. On average, they had 30% more amyloid plaques in their brains than men, 22% less glucose metabolism, and 11% less volume in both gray and white matter.
"About two-thirds of people who live with Alzheimer's are women, and the general belief is that this is because women tend to live longer. However, our findings suggest that hormonal factors may explain changes in the brain. "Menopause seems to be the best prognostic indicator for Alzheimer's-related changes in the brains of women," she said.
"Middle-aged women are more likely to be at risk for this disease because of lower levels of the hormone estrogen during and after menopause," she added. However, studies should be done with more participants over a longer period of time to confirm the above assessment of the role of hormones.
Famagusta.News / KYPE