Does Alzheimer's Affect Men & Women Equally?

Do you know the statistics regarding who (men or women) develops Alzheimer's disease? A common sense guess might be that half of people who get dementia are women and half are men, but common sense is wrong here. Or, perhaps you're aware that the average lifespan for a women is longer than for a man, and you guess that the breakdown is 55% women to 45% men. Closer, but not there yet. The truth? Two-thirds of people who develop Alzheimer's or a related dementia are women- a two-to-one ratio. That's a significant difference, and one that recently has been highlighted by advocacy groups. Why? We don't have the full answer yet, but a recent study conducted by researchers at Staford University School of Medicine added some insight to this dilemma. This past week, they published research in the Annals of Neurology that demonstrated that women with the  ApoE4 gene (a gene that increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's) were significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer's than men with the ApoE4 gene. Men with the ApoE4 gene still showed an increased risk of Alzheimer's when compared to those without this gene, but women with the gene had a much higher risk than men. Why Does This Matter? In addition to understanding that women are more at risk for dementia than men, this latest discovery that the ApoE4 gene significantly increases the dementia risk for women identifies new areas for research on what triggers Alzheimer's to develop and, eventually, how we can treat and prev...
Source: About Alzheimers Disease - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news