In a new review study, researchers found that men and women are impacted differently by brain diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
They found sex differences play roles in how patients respond to brain diseases, as well as multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, and other brain ailments.
They urge doctors to remember those differences when searching for treatments and cures.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Maryland.
As of 2020, an estimated 5.8 million Americans were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, another 1 million with Parkinson’s disease, 914,000 with multiple sclerosis, and 63,000 with motor neuron disease.
These diseases happen when nerve cells in the brain and nervous system quit working and, ultimately, die.
The changes are linked to the breakdown of what is called the blood-brain barrier—a border of cells that keeps the wrong kind of molecules in the bloodstream from entering the brain and damaging it.
Previous research has shown differences in the blood-brain barriers of men and women.
Some of the research suggests the barrier can be stronger in women than men, and the barriers in men and women are built and behave differently.
That could factor into known differences in the sexes, such as Alzheimer’s disease being more prevalent in older women than men, while Parkinson’s impacts men more frequently and tends to do so more severely.
The authors said they hope their article will serve as a reminder to researchers not just in their own field, but across the sciences, that accounting for sex differences leads to better results.
One author of the study is Alisa Morss Clyne. The study is published in APL Bioengineering.
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