WELCOME: GLOBAL BHP BRAINTRUST
A Message from Andrea Pfeifer, Chair of the Global BHP BrainTrust

Why are women more affected by Alzheimer’s and what can we do about it?

It is hardly a new fact for scientists that about two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer’s are women. Women face a disproportionate burden in terms of care and lost economic productivity across high-, middle- and lower-income countries. Researchers around the world are urgently studying questions about what causes these differences and what they mean for treatment and prevention.

Multiple reasons have been suggested to explain these differences. Some of the hypotheses include women’s higher life expectancy, lower education, and geographical differences. Other factors include the gene variant  APOEe4, which raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by disrupting how our brains process fats and clears harmful proteins like amyloid-beta and tau that can damage our brain cells and cause memory loss. Furthermore, hormonal changes during menopause and environmental and lifestyle factors also play a role in why women are more affected by Alzheimer’s.

All of these factors require further study and an understanding of how they interact to affect risk for women as a group. For men and women as individuals, this will take time.

Fortunately, there is a clear path forward: To make the integration of sex and gender in research plans a requirement. Our new FINGER Plus for Women in collaboration with the FINGERS Brain Health Institute and Prof. Miia Kiivipelto study represents an important step in this direction. It is addressing gender- specific read-outs  which will help to better understand these differences and communalities in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and will provide further insights to tailored prevention programs.

Many of us have family or friends who have dementia. We know that it is a global scourge that silently ravages millions of lives. Together though and through scientific studies like the FINGER Plus for Women, we can close the gap between women and men, addressing this pressing public health concern for all.