Women with Down Syndrome More Vulnerable to Alzheimer's Than Men: Study Finds
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Women with Down syndrome may experience more severe progression of Alzheimer's disease than men, even though both sexes are typically diagnosed at the same age. According to a recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, women appear to carry a higher burden of two hallmark Alzheimer’s-related proteins — beta amyloid and phosphorylated tau — compared to men.
The findings suggest a need for sex-specific approaches to both Alzheimer's research and treatment strategies, especially in the context of designing clinical trials.
While prior research has indicated that women with Down syndrome may live longer with dementia than men, few studies have focused on potential sex differences in brain pathology.
To explore this further, researchers examined postmortem brain samples from individuals with Down syndrome, measuring the accumulation of beta amyloid and tau proteins. They found significantly higher levels of these proteins in women, particularly in the occipital lobe — a region also notably affected in sporadic, late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
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