Why are women more at risk, but also more resistant to the disease

It is a well -known fact, but still misunderstood: women are twice as likely that men to develop Alzheimer’s disease, with a risk of 20 % against 10 % for these gentlemen. In question, the higher life expectancy of women (they live an average of five to seven years more) but also, perhaps, biological factors specific to female sex, such as menopause and differences in brain connectivity.

A new study published in early April in Neurologythe review of the American Academy of Neurology, sheds new light on this inequality. The researchers followed, for about ten years, 243 Canadians on average of 68 years at the start of the study, and having family history of Alzheimer’s disease, but having no cognitive or memory disorder. They used advanced technologies, including imagery by PET-Scan to analyze deposits and evolution over time of two key proteins in …