New clues into women’s higher Alzheimer’s risks

LOS ANGELES — New research gives some biological clues to why women may be more likely than men to develop Alzheimer’s disease and how this most common form of dementia varies by sex.

At the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles last week, scientists offered evidence that the disease may spread differently in the brains of women than in men.

They also identified some new sex-specific genes that seem related to risk and progression of the disease.

Two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases in the United States are in women and it’s not just because women live longer, Alzheimer’s experts say.

Some previous studies suggest that women at any age are more likely than men to develop Alzheimer’s, suggesting that biological differences also play a role.