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Why women are more likely to have dementia than men as they age, and how exercise and engagement can help lower your risk

  • Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and women tend to outlive men, which may partly explain why more women are diagnosed with it
  • Sex hormone and other bodily differences, and social factors, may play a part; experts suggest ways how to offset risk, including exercise and social engagement

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Women may be at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s than men for a number of reasons: biological, societal or cultural. Experts suggest exercise and social engagement can help offset the risk. Photo: Getty Images
This is the third instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.
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I am constantly aware that I may develop dementia, the illness that now compromises my mother. One factor that fuels my fear is that I share her gender.

Women are far more likely than men to succumb to dementia. Nearly two-thirds of the five million Americans living with Alzheimer’s – the most common form of dementia – are women.

Is this because we live longer – and in our dotage is a window of sinister opportunity flung open to create a crack for this disease to slink through? Is it hormone related? Is it because our neuro-protective oestrogen dries up at menopause so our brains begin to dry up too? Or is it because our testosterone levels are far lower than men’s?

Christopher Beam, an assistant professor of psychology and gerontology at the University of Southern California, offers some insights. He recently published a study which showed that the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – that is, the number of new cases at different ages in our lifespans – was about the same in men as women until we reach our mid-80s.

The spread of tau – the protein that clumps into the telltale tangles of dementia – may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Photo: Shutterstock
The spread of tau – the protein that clumps into the telltale tangles of dementia – may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Photo: Shutterstock

At around 85, the rates of any type of dementia – Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies (a type of protein build-up in the brain) – begin to decline faster in men than women.

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