COMMENTARY: Working together to change future of women’s brain health

Numbers tell the story. Of the 6.5 million Americans currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, almost two-thirds are women. That’s an astounding 4.3 million women. In addition, more than half of those who care for people with Alzheimer’s are women.

Despite these differences, most doctors and researchers approach Alzheimer’s as though it were the same for men and women. As a result, women’s brain health is undervalued, under-researched and not well-understood. To address this disparity, it will take innovative clinical care, science, education and funding. This work is the focus of The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center at Cleveland Clinic — The WAM Prevention Center.

A groundbreaking partnership with Maria Shriver’s nonprofit organization, The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, The WAM Prevention Center, located inside the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in downtown Las Vegas, is the first in the nation to offer women-specific Alzheimer’s disease prevention, research and support.

Our care capitalizes on research showing up to 40 percent of all Alzheimer’s cases might be preventable through healthy lifestyle habits, such as good nutrition and exercise.

WAM Prevention Center doctors create a custom plan of lifestyle changes for each woman to help reduce her risk of Alzheimer’s. This plan combines the latest science on prevention with her medical history, biological risks, social factors, mood and memory.

The center is staffed by women who understand women. We know menopause. We know stress. We know health problems that impact women’s brains more than men’s — like diabetes. Using our plan, women can begin to make sustainable behavior changes that promote brain health and reduce disease risk.

Our research examines what lifestyle changes women are making based on our recommendations, and our work also will determine which lifestyle changes lead to the biggest improvements in factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar, sleep, and mood. Our newest study explores the links between estrogen, stress and Alzheimer’s disease.

Since opening in 2020, the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center has served more than 175 women, the majority from Nevada. We also have a waiting list of women wanting help to improve their brain health.

Our three-year pilot program is funded in large part by philanthropy. To reach more women in Nevada and beyond, additional funding is necessary. That’s why we are hosting a Mother’s Day luncheon on Wednesday to support long-term growth of the center.

Imagine if similar resources for heart disease prevention were available for the prevention of Alzheimer’s and other progressive neurodegenerative diseases.

We hope the data we collect will help illustrate the impact prevention can make in women’s brain health and that our work will lead to development of less expensive interventions to reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk.

We are daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts and friends. We are women who care for one another. The work we do is for the women we love and future generations of women. Working together, we can change the story — and change the future of women’s brain health.

Jessica Caldwell, Ph.D., is director of The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center at Cleveland Clinic. To learn more, visit www.womenpreventalz.org.