reported<\/a> at the European Academy of Neurology Congress in Geneva this week, 57% of women included in the study had a high amyloid plaque burden versus 40% of the men.<\/p>\nAmyloid-beta is a protein fragment that normally gets cleared from the brain. In Alzheimer\u2019s disease, it misfolds and aggregates into oligomers and plaques between neurons. This disrupts synaptic signaling, activates neuroinflammation, and promotes tau protein hyperphosphorylation into neurofibrillary tangles as the disease progresses.<\/p>\n
In contrast, Parkinson\u2019s disease is caused by the misfolding and clumping of a protein called alpha-synuclein into toxic deposits known as Lewy bodies, which build up in and destroy the neurons that produce dopamine in a brain region called the substantia nigra. While Parkinson\u2019s is known for its characteristic motor symptoms, at least 25% also have dementia-like symptoms similar to those seen in Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Amyloid beta plaques are thought to worsen Parkinson\u2019s disease and increase the risk of dementia symptoms.<\/p>\n
There are known differences in the prevalence and symptoms shown by men and women with Parkinson\u2019s disease. To investigate this further, 230 people enrolled in the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders and Brain and Body Donation Program were included in this study after death. Amyloid burden in the brain was assessed during autopsy. Other clinical factors such as cognition and symptoms were recorded prior to death.<\/p>\n
The study found that amyloid plaque burden in women was higher than in men with Alzheimer\u2019s. For example, mean cortical total plaque score in women was 6.5\/15 vs 4.9\/15 in men. Neuritic plaque density\u00a0was also higher in women at 1.7\/3 compared with 1.3\/3 in men.<\/p>\n
After correcting for age at death and APOE4 status, women in the study were more than twice as likely to have a high plaque burden than men.<\/p>\n
This did not seem to translate to cognitive differences between men and women in the study though. \u201cMen and women with Parkinson\u2019s disease had similar rates of Alzheimer\u2019s dementia and similar results on cognitive testing. However, women showed a higher amyloid plaque burden compared with men,\u201d explained presenting author Erika Driver-Dunckley, MD, Mayo Clinic Arizona, in a press statement.<\/p>\n
Notably, in standard Parkinson\u2019s disease, men are at higher risk of developing dementia than women, so it is possible women have some protection from alpha-synuclein-driven decline but not from damage linked to amyloid accumulation. Women with Parkinson\u2019s also live longer than men with the condition, as well as being more prone to amyloid buildup and Alzheimer\u2019s disease, which complicates understanding the meaning of these results.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur findings highlight the need for further research into sex differences in Parkinson\u2019s disease and Alzheimer\u2019s-related pathology,\u201d concluded Driver-Dunckley. \u201cAn important next step will be to confirm these findings in additional large clinicopathological studies and better understand the biological mechanisms that may underlie these differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: selvanegra\/Getty Images A study led by the Mayo Clinic Arizona shows women with Parkinson\u2019s disease have greater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[869,184084,18,32957,135,19,17,100741,63461,32955,18862,12024,3533,5632,3473,12000],"class_list":["post-557864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-amyloid","tag-eire","tag-genetic-variants","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lewy-body-dementia","tag-molecular-dx","tag-news-features","tag-parkinsons-disease","tag-patient-care","tag-precision-medicine","tag-topics","tag-translational-research","tag-womens-health"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116825776316711355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Alzheimer's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AmyloidBeta-1019918500-696x522.jpg\" "\\"1019918500\\"\/")
Credit: selvanegra\/Getty Images<\/p>\n