Sex Differences in the Association of Global Amyloid and Regional Tau Deposition Measured by PET

The objective of this paper is to examine sex differences in the cross-sectional association between Aβ and regional tau deposition as measured with positron emission tomography (PET)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30715078/

Early tau deposition was elevated in females compared with males in individuals on the Alzheimer disease trajectory. These findings lend support to a growing body of literature that highlights a biological underpinning for sex differences in Alzheimer disease risk.

There was no clear association of sex with regional tau that was replicated across studies. In both cohorts, however, clinically normal females exhibited higher entorhinal cortical tau than males (meta-analytic estimate: β [male] = -0.11 [0.05]; 95% CI, -0.21 to -0.02; P = .02), which was associated with individuals with higher Aβ burden. A sex*APOEε4 interaction was not associated with regional tau (meta-analytic estimate: β [male, APOEε4+] = -0.15 [0.09]; 95% CI, -0.32 to 0.01; P = .07).