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Sex differences in Alzheimer risk: Brain imaging of endocrine vs chronologic aging
Mosconi L, Berti V, Quinn C, McHugh P, Petrongolo G, Varsavsky I, Osorio RS, Pupi A et al.. Neurology, 2017-08-30
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Objective This observational multimodality brain imaging study investigates emergence of endophenotypes of late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) risk during endocrine transition states in a cohort of clinically and cognitively normal women and age-matched men. Methods Forty-two 40- to 60-year-old cognitively normal women (15 asymptomatic perimenopausal by age [CNT], 13 perimenopausal [PERI], and 14 postmenopausal [MENO]) and 18 age- and education-matched men were examined. All patients had volumetric MRI, 18 F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)-PET (glucose metabolism), and Pittsburgh compound B-PET scans (β-amyloid [Aβ] deposition, a hallmark of AD pathology). Results As expected, the MENO group was older than the PERI and CNT groups. Otherwise, groups were comparable on clinical and neuropsychological measures and APOE4 distribution. Compared to CNT women and to men, and controlling for age, PERI and MENO groups exhibited increased indicators of AD endophenotype, including hypometabolism, increased Aβ deposition, and reduced gray and white matter volumes in AD-vulnerable regions ( p p APOE4 -positive MENO women relative to the other groups ( p Conclusions Multimodality brain imaging indicates sex differences in development of the AD endophenotype, suggesting that the preclinical AD phase is early in the female aging process and coincides with the endocrine transition of perimenopause. These data indicate that the optimal window of opportunity for therapeutic intervention in women is early in the endocrine aging process.
Key findings
- Results As expected, the MENO group was older than the PERI and CNT groups.
- Compared to CNT women and to men, and controlling for age, PERI and MENO groups exhibited increased indicators of AD endophenotype, including hypometabolism, increased Aβ deposition, and reduced gray and white matter volumes in AD-vulnerable regions ( p < 0.001).
- These data indicate that the optimal window of opportunity for therapeutic intervention in women is early in the endocrine aging process.
Why it matters
In cognitively normal women, perimenopausal and postmenopausal stages showed more indicators of Alzheimer's endophenotype, including hypometabolism, amyloid deposition, and reduced gray and white matter volumes, compared with earlier-stage women and men. This suggests a possible early window for intervention in women, but the study does not test any treatment.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 60/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2017 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 321 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 29.2 citations a year over 11 year(s) since 2017 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 13.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 19 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 150 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Roberta Dı́az Brinton: h-index 88 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | Cornell University: institution h-index 1,649 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 28855400) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 60 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
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Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Mosconi, L., Berti, V., Quinn, C., McHugh, P., Petrongolo, G., Varsavsky, I., et al. (2017). Sex differences in Alzheimer risk: Brain imaging of endocrine vs chronologic aging. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000004425
Vancouver
Mosconi L, Berti V, Quinn C, McHugh P, Petrongolo G, Varsavsky I, et al. Sex differences in Alzheimer risk: Brain imaging of endocrine vs chronologic aging. Neurology. 2017. doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000004425. PMID: 28855400.
BibTeX
@article{mosconi2017-28855400,
author = {Mosconi, L. and Berti, V. and Quinn, C. and McHugh, P. and Petrongolo, G. and Varsavsky, I. and Osorio, R. S. and Pupi, A. and others},
title = {{Sex differences in Alzheimer risk: Brain imaging of endocrine vs chronologic aging}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.0000000000004425},
pmid = {28855400},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000004425}
}
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