Women and Alzheimers

5/19/2023

You may be familiar with the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which include memory loss, loss of spontaneity, taking longer to finish routine chores, repeating inquiries or tales, getting lost, and misplacing possessions. However, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not a normal aspect of aging. The following are risk factors for developing the degenerative condition:

• A family history of AD
• Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity and smoking
• Sustaining a head trauma or traumatic brain injury

What you might not know is that Alzheimer’s disproportionately impacts women. Of the 6 million Americans with AD, two-thirds of them are women. There are several theories as to why that is.

Women Live Longer

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s generally begin to present in one’s mid-60s, when one in five women develop the condition. And since women live longer than men by around five years, they may have more time to develop the disease. The older you are, the more likely you will develop Alzheimer’s. According to Harvard Medical School, Alzheimer’s is annually diagnosed in:

• 4 out of 1,000 people ages 65 to 74
• 32 out of 1,000 people ages 75 to 84
• 76 out of 1,000 people ages 85 and older

Women Have Different Immune Symptoms and Brain Proteins

One hypothesis surrounds the fact that women not only have more robust immune systems than men, but they are twice as likely to develop an autoimmune disorder—especially during times of intense stress, pregnancy and significant hormonal shifts. Amyloid plaques cause AD. These proteins form in the spaces between nerve cells, leading to widespread damage, neuron death and loss of communication processes in the brain vital to communication, metabolism and cell repair. Some neurologists suspect that women may have more amyloid plaques than men. A University of California, San Francisco study found higher levels of amyloid plaque in women’s brains compared to men of the same age and cognitive functioning. Researchers also found abnormal tau protein spread (a toxic substance that causes cognitive decline) and brain glucose metabolism differ by gender.

Women Differ Biologically

Many scientists and doctors disagree that it's just a matter of becoming older. One researcher at Kaiser Permanente investigates relationships between dementia risks and the ages at which women experienced menopause, their first menstrual cycle, and the number of years between those occurrences. The Alzheimer's Association and The Women's Alzheimer's Movement are financing research to learn more about the reasons why women experience AD more frequently than men. This covers the roles played by biology, brain chemistry, genetics, and lifestyle in AD.

Women Have Different Experiences

One study found that women who had jobs outside the home in early adulthood and middle age, whether mothers or not, had slower memory decline as they aged. Married moms who had never pursued “waged employment” had a 61% faster cognitive decline than their 60 to 70-year-old, career counterparts. Researchers believe this is because employed women experience more cognitive stimulation. Unfortunately, two-thirds of caregivers for patients with Alzheimer’s are also women, many of whom are family members who must quit their careers to provide that care.

Although studies indicates that women are more biologically susceptible to AD than men are, the exact reason why this is the case is yet unknown. In addition to eating a nutritious diet, doctors advise their patients to be active as they age.

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