Women are twice more likely to die from Alzheimer’s and dementia than men

Through the past decade, deaths related to Alzheimer’s and Dementia have been steadily rising, increasing by 10% every year across England. As of 2020, there are currently 850,000 people in the UK with it.

Data shows women are more likely to die from Alzheimer’s than men.

This disparity led to the question of why?

A possible answer was given by professor Jerome Swinny, a neuropharmacology professor at the University of Portsmouth.

He researches how psychological stress affects the brain.

Professor Swinny proposes three areas as possible risk factors. Those would be life expectancy or ageing, life experience, such as pre-existing psychiatric condition, and sex hormones.

Ageing is a major player in Alzheimer’s. As you go over 50, the chances of developing it increase every few years.

The difference is women have a higher life expectancy than men. Across England and Wales, as of 2019, men’s life expectancy is 79.9 years whereas women’s is 83.6 years.

Because of this difference, Prof Swinny says: “If you live much longer, you are more likely to die from conditions that arise due to age.”

With that in mind, it may be assumed that because women are living longer, the odds increase of the condition’s process within that timeframe.

Yet, that isn’t the whole story. Professor Swinny adds: “It’s not just old; it’s also about what you have experienced in getting to old age, such as mental illnesses.”

We know that there is a higher prevalence of mental illnesses in women points. Curiously, the brain areas affected by these reported illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, overlap with those affected by Alzheimer’s, especially in the early stages of the condition.

However, this is disputed because women are more likely to seek help for mental illnesses.

In turn, this increases the record of women accounted for if later in life they’re diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Since men don’t seek a diagnosis as much as women, it’s unknown the extent of this risk factor.

Professor Swinny then considers sex hormones. The point of interest is women’s change in hormones.

In average, menopause occurs around the same time Alzheimer’s tries to take over. However, there’s conflicting evidence for changes in the level of sex hormones and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

In short, it isn’t known why yet. The variants and risk factors are a good start for a hypothesis.

Professor Swinny adds: “It is widely recognised as an important, unmet scientific and healthcare question, that needs to be urgently addressed in all areas of Alzheimer’s research. This includes using both male and female subjects for basic animal research, as well as clinical research using health volunteers and Alzheimer’s patients.”

There are speculated reasons as to the risk factors mentioned. Some of these have been theoretically explored.

The rest has provided extremely valuable information, but as Professor Swinny says: “There is still a long way to go.”