Electrophysiological differences between older women and men in the absence of disease: A step closer to personalized medicine

AbstractBackgroundMultiple electrophysiological footprints have been identified to be associated with silent and clinical neuropathological processes predicting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that women show greater risk of developing both MCI and AD. Therefore, it is crucial to understand in first place how sex differences might modulate these electrophysiological mechanisms in healthy older adults.Method240 healthy cognitively normal older adults (age = 60 ‐ 85) participated in this study. They were divided into two groups: women (n = 140) and men (n = 120), matched in age and educational level. Each individual underwent four minutes of closed eyes resting state MEG recording. The aim was to detect any clusters where power was significantly associated with sex and also any networks where functional connectivity was associated with sex (total intracranial volume and age where used as covariates p‐value < 0.01) in either frequency band (gamma, beta, alpha, theta and delta).ResultWomen showed greater power in the beta band in a posterior cluster composed of occipital and temporal brain regions. Additionally women also showed greater functional connectivity across all frequency bands, always in frontal brain networks.ConclusionEven in the absence of an undergoing neuropathological process, men and women present differential patterns of brain connectivity and power. The role that these differences play in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease remains to be fully understood. However, these differential baseline characteristics should be accounted for in studies aiming to establish electrophysiological markers of AD.