Sex Differences in the Clinical Manifestations of Alzheimer Disease Pathology

To test whether the relation of AD pathology to the clinical manifestations of the disease differs in men and women.

Longitudinal, clinicopathologic cohort study. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Analyses were conducted on 141 older Catholic clergy members who underwent detailed annual clinical evaluations and brain autopsy at death. The number of neuritic plaques, diffuse plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles in a 1-mm2 area sampled from 4 cortical regions was counted, and a global measure of AD pathology (range, 0-2.98 U) and specific measures of each pathology were derived. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical diagnosis of probable AD and level of global cognitive function at the last evaluation before death.