A new study has found that men who carry a common genetic change are twice as likely to develop dementia in their lifetime compared to women who carry the same change.
The research was published in the journal Neurology and used data from the ASPREE trial, which studied the health of older people in Australia and the United States.
The researchers looked at a gene called HFE, which helps control how much iron the body absorbs. A specific version of this gene, called H63D, is very common.
About one in three people have one copy of this version, and one in 36 people have two copies. People with two copies are more likely to have a condition called haemochromatosis, where the body stores too much iron.
Professor John Olynyk from the Curtin Medical School, one of the study’s authors, explained that having just one copy of the gene variant does not affect a person’s health. But men who have two copies of the H63D variant were found to be more than twice as likely to develop dementia. Interestingly, the same was not true for women.
Although this gene change itself cannot be altered, the researchers believe it may be possible to treat the brain changes that it causes—if scientists can better understand the process.
Professor Olynyk said more research is needed to figure out why this gene variant affects men differently than women. He also noted that the HFE gene is already commonly tested in people being checked for haemochromatosis in countries like Australia.
Based on the new findings, he suggests that this kind of genetic testing might also be useful for identifying men who could be at higher risk of dementia.
Surprisingly, the study found no clear connection between high iron levels in the blood and the risk of dementia in these men. This means that something else may be going on, such as increased inflammation or damage to brain cells that happens more easily in men with this genetic variant.
Another author of the study, Professor Paul Lacaze from Monash University, said the results could help improve care for people at risk of dementia. More than 400,000 people in Australia currently live with dementia, and about one-third of them are men. Understanding why some men are at higher risk could lead to better ways to prevent or treat the disease.
Professor Lacaze also pointed out that this study shows how useful it can be when research teams from different universities and hospitals work together. Their collaboration is helping to uncover new information that may one day help people all over the world.
The findings came from the ASPREE trial, a large clinical study that involved more than 19,000 older adults in Australia and the U.S. The trial originally tested whether taking low-dose aspirin every day could help people stay healthy as they age. It created a valuable collection of health data that researchers continue to use in many different studies.
This particular study was a joint effort by researchers from Curtin University, Monash University, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and Fiona Stanley Hospital.
If you care about dementia, please read studies about low choline intake linked to higher dementia risk, and how eating nuts can affect your cognitive ability.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that blueberry supplements may prevent cognitive decline, and results showing higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.
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