Women diagnosed with behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) have been found to demonstrate “higher behavioral and executive reserve” compared to men with bvFTD, a new study has found.  

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, examined the effects of bvFTD between men and women and how biological sex can impact the “clinical presentation, longitudinal decline, and cortical thickness” in bvFTD. 

The women that participated in the study were showed to have a “higher burden of frontal atrophy at diagnosis compared to men despite very subtle differences in cognitive and functional impairment, progression and survival.” Even so, women performed “better-than-expected on executive functions and displayed fewer general behavioral changes,” the study said. 

Women with bvFTD were found to have fewer changes in apathy, sleep and appetite compared to men with bvFTD. Study authors estimated that the neurodegeneration must be relatively more severe in women if they have FTD-related effects that are as severe as the effects found in men.  

Another key finding of the study indicated that “women have lost more cortical thickness at the moment of bvTD diagnosis than men after accounting for potential confounding factors.” Additionally, the study also found that women with bvFTD showed a higher frequency of delusions and disinhibition. 

Read the full study here.