Sex differences in the effect of dementia therapeutics
| Classification | Dementia therapeutics | Therapeutic effect on dementia | Age (years) | Note | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | |||||
| Cholinesterase Inhibitors |
Galantamine | ++ | + | 73.9 ± 7.1 | Men displayed a more beneficial effect than women in the short-term response of galantamine | Wattmo et al., 2011 |
| Rivastigmine | + | ++ | 75.4 ± 7.5 | Women displayed a better response to treatment with rivastigmine than men | Scacchi et al., 2014 | |
| + | ++ | 70.3 ± 7.9 | Women patients with mild cognitive impairment prescribed with rivastigmine for 3-4 years showed decreased progression of AD | Ferris et al., 2009 | ||
| Donepezil | + | + | 75.1 ± 5.0 | No differences in the cognitive and functional effects of donepezil were found between men and women | Canevelli et al., 2017 | |
| + | ++ | 79.7 ± 6.9 | Women are more sensitive than men to treatment with donepezil | Scacchi et al., 2014 | ||
| ++ | + | 75.1 ± 5.0 | In animal studies, males were more sensitive to donepezil treatment than females | Giacobini and Pepeu, 2018 | ||
| + | ++ | 78.7 ± 7.5 | Co-treatment with donepezil and rivastigmine showed a better response in women than in men | Scacchi et al., 2014 | ||
| NMDA antagonist | Memantine | + | + | 76.2 ± 4.3 | Memantine displayed a preventive effect against dementia, but there was no difference between men and women | Canevelli et al., 2017 |
| Anti-Aβ monoclonal antibody | Aducanumab | + | + | 70.6 ± 7.5 | A 22% decline in CDR-SB was prevented by aducanumab, but no differences were found between men and women | Budd Haeberlein et al., 2022 |
| Lecanemab | + | + | 72.5 ± 12.5 | A 27% decline in CDR-SB was prevented by lecanemab, but no differences were found between men and women | Shi et al., 2022 | |
+, significantly effective; ++, effective to a greater extent; AD, Alzheimer's disease; CDR-SB, Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes.