Why Women’s Brain Health Deserves a Closer Look in Alzheimer’s Research

Alzheimer’s disease dementia is not just a brain thief; it's a gendered one. The most common of all the dementias, Alzheimer’s is characterized by early memory loss, particularly recent memories. Of all patients living with the dementia, two thirds are women, but we still treat it like a one-size-fits-all villain. Spoiler alert: It’s not. Women have an outsized risk of being diagnosed with the disease, and it’s not just because women simply live longer. It’s in the nitty gritty of brain biology. Recently approved anti-amyloid therapeutics that purport to delay the cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease show considerably less treatment effect in women relative to men. As such, it is of critical importance to understand the extent to which sex biology, including menopause and the X chromosome, might play a role in increasing risk or resilience to Alzheimer’s disease.

Background: Dr. Rachel Buckley is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. She is an expert on sex differences in aging & Alzheimer’s Disease and is Chair of Sex and Gender Differences in Alzheimer’s Disease Professional Interest Area, Alzheimer’s Association (ISTAART). Her research interests focus on harmonizing multiple cohorts to understand risk and resilience in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, as well as sex differences in preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease.

About the event: This event is part of the Center for Vital Longevity's Jean & Bill Booziotis Distinguished Lecture Series, made possible by the late Bill Booziotis, former president of Booziotis and Company Architects and Center for Vital Longevity Advisory Council Member. Bill Booziotis and his wife, Jean, established the series to bring the Center’s work, focused on understanding the science of the aging mind, to the public

Host or Publisher Center for Vital Longevity