On 24 June, Dr. Aneela Rahman and colleagues published an article in the Neurology journal, identifying a correlation between menopausal status and Alzheimer’s disease-associated changes in the brain. The study involved 85 women and 36 men aged between 40 and 65 years, all of whom were cognitively normal. As well as assessing lifestyle and medical risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the study mapped their hormonal status and performed MRI and PET imaging scans. In particular, these scans aimed to detect brain biomarkers of AD, such as amyloid-beta deposition (via PiB-PET) and neurodegenerative changes (via structural MRI and FDG-PET).
Although the male and female groups were comparable in terms of clinical and cognitive measures, the researchers observed higher levels of amyloid deposition and reduced grey and white matter volume in the female group, irrespective of age. For example, women had ~30% more amyloid plaques than men, while men had ~11% greater white matter volume. Second to female sex, menopausal status followed by hormone therapy were the strongest predictors of brain biomarker differences. To further confirm the results of this study, more large-scale and longitudinal studies are now required. Link to article: https://n.neurology.org/content/early/2020/06/24/WNL.0000000000009781