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"I do not remember", "Who are you?", "I do not know where I am" … Repetitions, hesitations, memory loss: Alzheimer's disease affects today about 30 millions of people around the world. And among the 900,000 people suffering from this dementia in France, 60% are women. An unpublished study of the differences between men and women with the disease was published on July 9, 2018 in the journal Nature *. The scientists at the Women's Brain Project (WBP), at the origin of this research, determined several factors responsible for the development of the disease.
Age, depression and complicated pregnancies at the origin of dementia
age is the first reason why women are more affected by dementia. Since their life expectancy is six years older than men, they are more likely to contract this disease, which affects the elderly.
Depression, linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease, would also be a risk factor for women. The female population is more sensitive to this psychological illness. In France, three or four women are confronted for two men. According to the researchers, pregnancy complications can also lead to dementia in old age.
In addition to affecting mostly women, Alzheimer's disease is evolving faster among women. This could be explained by "the presence of estrogen in women whose effect is 'protective' on the body and in particular on the brain, so that the drop in estrogen levels at menopause could lead to the loss of these protective effects on the brain and thus it would be more vulnerable than that of men to this neurodegenerative disease that affects cognition, "said Professor André Nieoullon, professor of neuroscience at the University of Aix-en-Provence. Marseille on Atlantico.fr. "Some data – sometimes questionable and disputed – have reported beneficial effects of hormone replacement therapy after menopause, including in terms of 'prevention' of Alzheimer's disease, or even in women with slowing her evolution, "he added.
Scientific research still badist
Alzheimer's disease remains incurable today. For WBP researchers, if treatment research does not evolve, it is because of lack of financial means but also because women do not participate enough in laboratory experiments. "As women are more affected by the disease, we need to investigate the specific differences between men and women," says Antonella Santuccione-Chadha, co-founder of Women's Brain Project.
If this dementia is not cured , the figures for new diagnoses are declining in some countries over the years. In the United Kingdom, the number of new cases of Alzheimer's has fallen by 20% in the last twenty years, especially among men over 65 years of age. A decrease that can be explained by the awareness of the harmful effects of smoking and the prevention of heart disease, which is linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
* www.nature.com/articles/s41582- 018-0032-9.epdf?
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