ANKARA

Men’s brains shrink faster than women’s as they age, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but the finding does not explain why women are still more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, media reports said on Tuesday.

The study examined more than 12,000 brain scans from nearly 5,000 healthy individuals aged 17 to 95, according to Fox News.

Each participant underwent at least two MRI scans over time to monitor changes in brain volume.

“Women are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease more often than men, and since aging is the main risk factor, we wanted to test whether men’s and women’s brains change differently with age,” said Anne Ravndal, lead author from the University of Oslo in Norway, speaking to Fox News.

Researchers found that men experienced faster brain shrinkage in regions critical for memory, emotion, and sensory processing, including the hippocampus and parahippocampal areas.

Women’s brains, in contrast, showed more volume stability across regions, although they exhibited slightly more enlargement in the brain’s fluid-filled spaces, known as ventricles.

“Our findings show that men experience greater structural brain decline across more regions,” Ravndal said. “Normal brain aging doesn’t explain the sex difference in Alzheimer’s rates.”

She added: “Other factors such as longevity, hormone shifts, or health-seeking behavior may play a role.”

The research was based on healthy participants and did not include individuals with dementia, which limits the scope of its conclusions, Ravndal noted.

“The study is not about making direct recommendations for individuals,” she said. “Future work needs to identify the mechanisms that do.”