Professor Kaarin Anstey has been awarded international funding to study the links between women's hormones and brain ageing.
UNSW Professor Kaarin Anstey and University of California Professor Kristine Yaffe have been jointly awarded more than $4 million from Wellcome Leap's CARE (Cutting Alzheimer's Risk through Endocrinology) program to investigate why women are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer's disease.
Women make up about two-thirds of people with Alzheimer's , the most common form of dementia, but the reasons for this imbalance remain unclear.
"We hope that by studying hormonal variability and aspects of women's health that have previously been dismissed, we may uncover clues to explain women's greater risk of Alzheimer's disease," said Prof. Anstey, who is Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute and Conjoint Senior Principal Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).
Her team analysed data from nearly one million people across 43 countries and found that dementia is about 46% more common in women than in men, with the difference primarily seen in Alzheimer's disease.
Investigating the role of hormones in brain ageing
Prof. Anstey's research will explore how neuroendocrine factors, the complex hormonal changes across a woman's life, influence dementia risk. These include reproductive milestones such as a first period, pregnancy, menopause and the use of hormone-based treatments like contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
"What we need is really detailed research looking at the hormonal changes women go through and how that affects their brain and later their dementia risk."
Prof. Anstey said that while terms such as 'baby brain' or menopausal 'brain fog' are often dismissed, they may hold important clues about women's brain health and cognition.
"We don't know much about these reproductive factors in relation to brain health, including how exposure to hormones on and off throughout their life could affect it."
The research team will analyse existing biobanks and large cohorts to identify risk and protective factors.
We don't know much about these reproductive factors in relation to brain health, including how exposure to hormones on and off throughout their life could affect it.
Towards tailored dementia prevention
The project will build on existing global research from the Lancet Commission, the World Health Organisation Guidelines and other major reports. This research has shown that nearly half of all dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors , including midlife hearing loss, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and depression.
Prof. Anstey hopes her work will shed light on how these risk factors differ between men and women.
"The field is moving rapidly, but we still see sex and gender statistically adjusted out of analyses and men and women effectively treated as if they are the same. This is despite the large differences in biology and risk of Alzheimer's. We are also interested in the interactions between risk factors, which may differ for men and women.
"While we know that many risk factors for dementia are modifiable, the effect of each may not be the same in men and women. The more we can understand, the more we can intervene to prevent it."
Prof. Anstey's team will lead the research with two overarching aims: to better understand how to reduce dementia risk and to ensure women's health is given equal focus in dementia research.
"Overall, the most urgent priority is to learn how to reduce the risk of dementia and slow cognitive decline so that we can develop interventions to prevent it," Prof. Anstey said.
"Second, making sure these women's health issues are given the same weight in our research as other factors like cardiovascular disease so that they are not ignored or dismissed as unimportant. We need all the clues and information available to progress the massive task of preventing cognitive decline and impairment in ageing."
A global effort to transform dementia research
The Wellcome Leap CARE initiative funds research aimed at reversing or preventing the biological drivers of ageing, with a focus on brain health and resilience. The program supports projects that combine advanced data science, longitudinal studies and clinical research to translate discoveries into real-world interventions.
Prof. Anstey is one of 16 international research leaders awarded funding under the US$50 million global program, which aims to halve the lifetime risk of Alzheimer's disease in women.
UNSW Dean of Science Professor Sven Rogge congratulated Prof. Anstey.
"This recognition from Wellcome Leap CARE highlights Kaarin's world-leading expertise in dementia prevention and brain health. Her research has the potential to transform our understanding of how biological and life-course factors unique to women shape their risk of Alzheimer's disease," Prof. Rogge said.
