Data Show Association Between Unsaturated Lipids and Alzheimer Disease
Investigators find this association primarily affects female patients when compared with male patients.
Women with Alzheimer disease (AD) have lower unsaturated plasma lipid levels compared with healthy patients, according to results in a study published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia. In the study, investigators analyzed the lipidome of patients who were healthy, mildly cognitively impaired (MCI), or had AD.1
Investigators find this association primarily affects female patients when compared with male patients. | Image Credit: Artur - stock.adobe.com
“Our findings reveal significant sex-specific differences in lipid associations with AD, contributing to the growing evidence that AD may manifest differently on the molecular level between women and men,” the study authors said.1 “The main difference in women was a deficit of molecular lipids containing polyunsaturated fatty acids, which in turn showed to be partially mediated by cholesterol, LDL [low-density lipoprotein], and ApoB.”
In the United States, nearly two-thirds of Americans with AD are women. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, women in their 60s are approximately twice as likely to develop AD compared with breast cancer, and approximately 4.4 million people aged 65 years and older have AD. At 65 years, the Alzheimer’s Association states that the estimated lifetime risk for women is 1 in 5.2
Although the causes of AD and dementia are not known, a study published in BMC Public Health found that there was a correlation between cardiometabolic multimorbidity and dementia for younger patients and patients who were female. Cardiometabolic diseases linked with dementia could be due to the disease inducing chronic systemic inflammation, which results in proinflammatory molecules crossing the blood-brain barrier.3
In the current study, investigators included 841 patients; 306 had AD, 165 had MCI, and 370 were cognitively healthy, and the mean age was 73.04 years. Blood samples were collected after a 2-hour fasting period. The average AD duration was 3.74 years, and patients with AD were older on average than healthy patients and patients with MCI. There was also a higher proportion of APOE ε4 carriers, according to the study authors.1
The results showed that patients with AD had higher total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, but there were no significant differences for high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or total triglycerides. Female patients had higher levels of cholesterol, LDL, and HDL when compared with male patients, but no differences in total triglycerides were evident. For male patients, there were no significant associations between AD and lipoprotein. Further, the study authors reported that there was a large reduction in unsaturated lipids that were associated with AD, and there was an association between increases in saturated and monounsaturated lipids and AD. There were 32 lipids associated with AD for female patients and no lipids associated for male patients. Of the 32 lipids, 15 were positively associated with AD, which included saturated and monosaturated lipids, and 17 lipids were negatively associated with AD, which included highly unsaturated lipids.1
“Our data revealed that lipid associations with AD were predominantly driven by female participants. Of the 11 lipid modules identified through correlation-based grouping, 4 were associated with AD in the full cohort,” the study authors concluded.1 “Interestingly, 3 of these modules showed significant associations in the female subset, while only 1 was found associated with AD in the male subset.”
READ MORE: Neurology Resource Center
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REFERENCES
1. Wretlind A, Xu J, Chen W, et al. Lipid profiling reveals unsaturated lipid reduction in women with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2025;21(8):e70512. doi:10.1002/alz.70512
2. Alzheimer’s Association. Women and Alzheimer's. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers/women-and-alzheimer-s
3. Gallagher A. Cardiometabolic diseases are tied to higher dementia risk in younger and female patients. Drug Topics. July 8, 2025. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.drugtopics.com/view/cardiometabolic-diseases-linked-with-increased-dementia-risk-for-younger-female-patients
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