A Canadian family’s fight to improve Alzheimer’s research for women

A Canadian family is speaking out about their mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease, in the hopes it will raise awareness about the need for more dementia research focused on women.

At the age of 78, Elaine Widmeyer’s family realized they were witnessing the first signs of Alzheimer’s, a disease that disproportionately affects more women than men. But her mother’s family physician did not recognize the symptoms, putting the onus on the family to advocate for an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

In 2020, 61.8 per cent of people living with dementia in Canada were female and this number is expected to rise, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Despite the high prevalence of the disease in women, experts note dementia research has prominently focused on men.

Global's Katherine Ward reports on the efforts to change that.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10141645/alzheimers-research-womens-brain-health/

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