Almost two-thirds of American patients with Alzheimer’s disease are women. This statistic puzzles scientists who question the hypothesis that it’s just because women have a longer life expectancy than men. Maria Carillo, head of the American Association against Alzheimer’s disease has just declared that her association intends to fund various studies on the increased risk of women facing Alzheimer’s. According to Maria Carillo, a 65-year-old woman has a 1 in 6 chance of having Alzheimer’s disease while for men it is a 1 in 11 chance. Likewise, once the disease is declared, women decline faster than men.
Research will therefore focus on genetics. Researchers at Stanford University analyzed the records of more than 8,000 patients with a gene called ApoE-4, known to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Women carrying this variant of the gene were twice as likely to eventually develop Alzheimer’s disease as women without the gene, while the risk of men was only slightly increased, the researchers reported.
Other research, underlined Maria Carillo, will focus on the role of hormones and their protective effect on the brain: “40 years ago, we studied cardiovascular disease in men, without worrying about how the cardiac risks could. differ in women. It would be unfortunate to make the same mistake today with Alzheimer’s disease. “
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