Sex Mediates Relationships Between Regional Tau Pathology and Cognitive Decline

Higher tau-PET signal in healthy older females is not just limited to the medial temporal lobe and significantly contributes to faster cognitive decline. Interactive effects of sex and Aβ were predominantly localized to the temporal lobe, with females with high Aβ showing higher temporal lobe tau than males with high Aβ. Sex differences in tau-PET signal were also found in extra-temporal regions, highlighting the possibility of accelerated tau proliferation in women with the onset of clinical symptomatology.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32799367/

Women showed significantly higher FTP-signals than men across multiple regions of the cortical mantle. Aβ-moderated sex differences in tau signal were localized to medial and inferio-lateral temporal regions; Aβ+ women exhibited greater FTP-signal than other groups. APOEε4-moderated sex differences in FTP-signal were only found in the lateral occipital lobe. Women with higher FTP-signals in composite ROI exhibited faster cognitive decline than men.