As the average age of our population increases, so does the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. With advances in technology, it is easier to determine brain age and identify blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. A new study links trauma exposure to blood markers of brain age that determine the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The study results will be presented at The Menopause Society’s 2024 annual meeting in Chicago, September 10-14.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years after age 65. This number is expected to almost triple to 14 million people by 2060. Two-thirds of those with Alzheimer’s disease are women. Alzheimer’s disease causes the brain to shrink and brain cells to die, causing a gradual decline in memory, thinking, behavior and social skills. The disease is not only heartbreaking for family members, but also very expensive to treat. It’s no wonder so much research focuses on early identification and mitigation strategies.
Recent research has been made possible by multiple advances in medical technology, including advanced neuroimaging-based measurements of brain age and the ability to distinguish between white matter and gray matter brain age. This is notable given early evidence that white matter changes may be particularly relevant to women’s brain health. Furthermore, recent advances in assessing risk for Alzheimer’s disease include blood-based biomarkers that are especially useful for assessing risk decades before the emergence of this type of dementia.
A new study, based on data from more than 250 women of different ethnicities, sought to test whether (1) women with greater exposure to trauma had older brain age, taking into account brain age of both gray and white matter; (2) women with greater exposure to trauma had unfavorable biomarker profiles for Alzheimer’s disease; and (3) associations between trauma exposure and biomarkers of brain age or Alzheimer’s disease, varied by race/ethnicity.
Study results indicated that greater exposure to trauma was associated with markers of accelerated brain age, specifically brain white matter age. In fact, trauma exposure appeared to cause more than three years of additional white matter aging of the brain compared to women without trauma exposure. The findings also indicated that greater exposure to trauma was associated with adverse blood markers of neuroinflammation and neuronal death, especially in black women. Of the traumas assessed, sexual trauma emerged as particularly toxic to women’s brain health.
Previous research has found that childhood trauma is associated with poorer physical and neurocognitive health. However, previous research has largely focused on childhood trauma. How adult trauma, including sexual trauma, relates to the brain health of midlife women is relatively unknown. The findings underscore that adult trauma, and especially sexual trauma, is important for women’s brain health. They also indicate that black women may be particularly vulnerable to the adverse brain effects of trauma exposure. These data highlight the importance of preventing trauma to support women’s brain health as they age.”
Dr. Rebecca Thurston, principal investigator and director of the Women’s Biobehavioral Health Program, University of Pittsburgh
More detailed results will be discussed at the Menopause Society’s 2024 annual meeting as part of the presentation entitled “Trauma exposure, brain age, and plasma Alzheimer’s disease biomarker in women.”
“With the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease expected to nearly triple, and with two-thirds of them being women, it is imperative that we understand the role that trauma can play and discuss this with our patients,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of The Menopause Association. “That’s why studies like this are so valuable.”
Drs. Thurston and Faubion are available for interviews prior to the annual meeting.