New findings could help explain why Alzheimer's dementia often progresses faster in women and may lead to fresh avenues of research and future treatments, researchers said.

Alzheimer's disease is marked by abnormal amounts of tau protein in the brain that disrupt communication between brain cells and contribute to cognitive decline.

Some patients also have abnormal clumping of a protein associated with Parkinson's disease called alpha-synuclein.

Among patients with Alzheimer's disease and elevated brain levels of both proteins, brain changes occurred up to 20 times faster in women than in men, suggesting that alpha-synuclein may drive faster dementia progression in women, Mayo Clinic researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

"When we see disease-related changes unfolding at dramatically different rates, we cannot keep approaching Alzheimer's as though it behaves exactly the same way in everyone,” study senior author Dr. Kejal Kantarci said in a statement.

The researchers studied 415 volunteers with Alzheimer's disease who agreed to have their brain changes tracked over time with cerebrospinal fluid testing to detect abnormal alpha-synuclein and imaging to measure changes in tau accumulation.

About 17% of participants showed evidence of abnormal alpha-synuclein.

"Recognizing these sex-specific differences could help us design more targeted clinical trials and ultimately more personalized treatment strategies," Kantarci said.

"This opens an entirely new direction for understanding why women bear a disproportionate burden of dementia," study leader Dr. Elijah Mak said in a statement.

"If we can unravel the mechanisms behind this vulnerability, we may uncover targets we haven't considered before."