Men and women have different risk factors that contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, according to a team of researchers from the University of Montpellier and La Colombiere Hospital in France.

Their study involving 6892 participants over the age of 65, examined a range of environmental and health factors to see how they affected progression of dementia. At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had dementia, but 2,882 (42 percent) were classed as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Four years later, all of the participants were checked on and the researchers found that the risk factors for dementia or Alzheimer’s were different between men and women.

For example, the main risk for men was having a variation in the ApoE gene. These men were more than three times as likely to develop dementia, whereas for women this nearly doubled the risk. Also, men having a stroke had a threefold risk to develop dementia, while stroke was not a risk factor for women.

Other risks leading to dementia in men were higher body mass index and diabetes.

Women, on the other hand, were more likely to develop dementia if they had poorer general health, they were disabled or suffering from insomnia or they had too many daily tasks to accomplish without assistance. For example, women with depression were twice as likely to develop dementia, while women unable to perform routine daily tasks were 3.5 times more likely to progress to dementia.

“These differences between the sexes were not due to varying prevalence of these conditions in men and women. These findings support the notion that mild cognitive impairment is a common end point to multiple etiological pathways, which are not the same for men and women”, the researches concluded.

“Women are more vulnerable to getting Alzheimer's disease than men and this study shows how risk factors, such as stroke and depression, affect men and women differently,” Dr. Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society said, according to Guardian.co.uk.

According to the World Health Organization, there are about 18 million people worldwide with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2025, that number is expected to reach 34 million, as existing drugs can ease symptoms but do not stop the disease. Alzheimer’s causes a progressive loss of memory and mental faculties, which can be devastating for the patients concerned and those around them.