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Brenda Whittle, 75, is still fond of Alzheimer's in 2015 puzzles, couture and dance. The new activities do not interest you much, but participating in clinical trials of drugs to treat the disease is an exception.
Brenda is one of more than 50 million people living with dementia in the world – a category that encompbades a variety of diseases and disorders that affect memory and memory. brain treatment, including Alzheimer's disease. This number is growing rapidly. Overall, experts estimate that 75 million people will suffer from dementia by 2030 and 131.5 million by 2050. Most of them are women.
In Australia, nearly two-thirds of dementia-related illnesses are women; in the United States, two-thirds of people living with the disease are women. In some cases, dementia overcomes "well-known diseases": American women over 60 are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as bad cancer (bad cancer remains the leading cause of death in elderly British women
In England, as in Australia, dementia has become the leading cause of death among women, bringing heart disease to the top of the list
. Alzheimer's surpbades 1.2 million, according to the Brazilian Association of Alzheimer's Disease.But there is no more specific data on women.
A large part of the difference between the bades is related to one of the major risk factors for dementia: age.The older you are, the more likely you are to develop Alzheimer's disease. generally longer than men, Onc more women suffer from dementia.
But recent research points out that it would be wrong to badume that Alzheimer's disease is an inevitable disease. The results of two major studies on cognitive functioning and aging (SCFA) suggest that over the last 20 years, new cases of dementia in the UK have decreased by 20% – mainly because of the more men 65 years old.
Experts say this may be due to public health campaigns on heart disease and smoking. Both are risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. But since men tend to have earlier heart disease and smoke more than women, these campaigns may also help reduce these risk factors more in men than in women.
Meanwhile, other risk factors for the disease affect women more than men. For example, more women are suffering from depression – and the condition was linked to Alzheimer's disease. Other risk factors only affect women, such as surgical menopause and pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, both of which are related to cognitive decline in the later stages of life.
Social tasks like caring for each other can also develop dementia. According to Annemarie Schumacher, a psychologist, some research shows that being a caregiver poses a risk of suffering from Alzheimer's disease. In the UK, between 60% and 70% of people who take care of people without dementia without being paid are women.
This idea is gaining momentum. The WBP, co-founded by Santuccione-Chadha, Ferretti and Schumacher in addition to chemist Gautam Maitra, recently published a report badyzing a decade of scientific literature on Alzheimer's, which reviewed existing data and asked "The The most obvious differences we draw from the literature are the exposure and progression of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms in men and women with Alzheimer's disease. " Based on these new studies, we can draw new hypotheses and discover new ways to improve treatments for patients, "says Ferretti.
For example, Alzheimer's disease is detected in the search for two toxic proteins that accumulate in the brain. Evidence suggests that there is no difference in the levels of these proteins, or "biomarkers" (measurable indicators of the severity or presence of a disease state) between men and women with Alzheimer's disease. As a result, biomarkers "may have different predictable values in men and women," says Ferretti: "we may need to make an adjustment in the visual representation of biochemical and neuropsychological biomarkers in men. and women, or to find specific biomarkers for each bad. "
Another problem for researchers is why the disease progresses faster in women than men after diagnosis.A line of thought suggests that estrogen protects the brain of women when they are younger, but that these benefits end up, just like estrogen, at a certain age.
Other research suggests that women get better results, which can lead to early diagnosis errors, which can also lead to physicians to underestimate the severity of the disease.If this is the case, the diagnostic tests will have to be modified to reflect the neuropsychological differences between men and women.
Another challenge was the way the tests clinics for Alzheimer's drugs are made.
For other problems, such as depression and multiple sclerosis, "the prevalence is usually r eflété, "says Santuccione-Chadha," the prevalence is usually reflected, "says Santuccione-Chadha. "If more women are affected by these diseases, more women are usually included in the tests." This strategy seems to have worked: "We have seen effective drugs in the areas of these diseases," she says. Already in the case of Alzheimer's disease, most tests have failed over the last decade.
Compared to other diseases, dementia research continues to have fewer funds than others. Historically, in the UK, 8 cents per pound is spent on finding new treatments for dementia for every 10 pounds spent on treating people with the disease, according to a study from the University of Oxford . In the case of cancer, 1.08 pounds is spent on research for every 10 pounds of treatments.
The gap in funds is repeated elsewhere: in 2017, in the United States, data from the National Institutes of Health suggest that about $ 3.03 billion was spent on disease research of Alzheimer's and related diseases, while $ 9.87 billion was spent on cancer research
Investments in research, however, increase, thanks to such impact initiatives Bill Gates' recent donation of $ 50 million
but much more remains to be done. Says Hilary Evans, CEO of the UK's Alzheimer's Research Center. "We should see significant changes in investments to ensure that we have the same progress as people with dementia for cancer and heart disease in recent years."
As for Brenda, she can turn around tracker with GPS bought after a trip on the wrong train, and post-it with reminders stuck by the house by her husband, Stephen. The two men say that they plan to continue to participate in discussions and research on the disease.
The involvement of couples like Brenda and Stephen is essential. Gender-sensitive research is already providing new opportunities to detect, treat and treat the growing number of people living with the disease. Detecting any difference can help solve one of the biggest medical mysteries of our time – a chance that would be a big fool to waste, experts say.
