A new study has found that women with high levels of β-amyloid (Aβ), a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, experience faster buildup of another harmful protein called tau in key brain areas compared to men.
This could explain why Alzheimer’s is almost twice as common in women and suggests that treatments may need to be tailored differently for men and women.
The study, led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was a large-scale meta-analysis combining data from six major studies on aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
The results were published in JAMA Neurology.
Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of people worldwide, and women are at much higher risk than men. Scientists have long wondered why, but the exact biological reasons remain unclear.
Both men and women can have high levels of Aβ, which is one of the key markers of Alzheimer’s. However, research suggests that women may be more vulnerable to tau buildup, another protein strongly linked to brain degeneration and memory loss.
Earlier studies found that women tend to have more tau in their brains than men, but most of this research only looked at single points in time. This study, however, followed participants over time, providing stronger evidence that women not only have more tau but also accumulate it at a faster rate.
The researchers analyzed brain scans and genetic data from 1,376 people across six well-known Alzheimer’s studies:
- Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)
- Berkeley Aging Cohort Study (BACS)
- BioFINDER 1 (BF-1)
- Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS)
- Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA)
- Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer Prevention (WRAP)
The participants had an average age of about 72 years, and 55% were women. Nearly 30% had high Aβ levels, a key risk factor for Alzheimer’s, while another 30% carried the APOEε4 gene variant, which increases the risk of the disease.
Using advanced brain imaging techniques (positron emission tomography or PET scans), researchers tracked changes in tau levels over an average of 2.8 years. They used statistical models to see if sex, Aβ levels, and APOEε4 status influenced how quickly tau built up in different brain regions.
Key Findings
- Women with high Aβ had significantly faster tau accumulation than men in important brain areas, including the inferior temporal cortex, temporal fusiform gyrus, and lateral occipital cortex. These regions are involved in memory and visual processing, which are often affected early in Alzheimer’s.
- Women who carried the APOEε4 gene also had faster tau buildup in the inferior temporal region, an area strongly linked to memory loss.
- However, outside of these specific brain regions, no major differences in tau accumulation were found between men and women.
This study provides strong evidence that women’s brains may be more vulnerable to tau-related damage when Alzheimer’s starts developing. This could explain why more women develop Alzheimer’s than men and why they often decline faster once symptoms begin.
One possible explanation for this difference is hormones, particularly estrogen. Estrogen plays a protective role in the brain, but its levels drop after menopause, which might make women more susceptible to Alzheimer’s-related changes. Genetic differences could also play a role.
Since women seem to accumulate tau faster than men, they may need different treatment approaches to slow disease progression. Current Alzheimer’s treatments are mostly designed based on research that does not fully consider these sex differences.
This study highlights the importance of developing sex-specific therapies that could be more effective in slowing or preventing Alzheimer’s in women.
More research is needed to understand why women experience faster tau accumulation. Scientists need to explore whether hormones, genetics, or other biological factors are driving these differences. Future treatments may need to focus on early intervention in women before tau buildup reaches damaging levels.
Overall, this study adds an important piece to the puzzle of why women are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s. It also paves the way for better, more personalized treatments that could help slow or even prevent the disease in the future.
If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies about vitamin D deficiency linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia, and strawberries can be good defence against Alzheimer’s.
For more health information, please see recent studies about foods that reduce Alzheimer’s risk, and oral cannabis extract may help reduce Alzheimer’s symptoms.
The study is published in JAMA Neurology.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
