Using PET imaging with Carbon-11 labeled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB), which binds to beta-amyloid plaque in the brain,  researchers found a significant increase in amyloid among perimenopausal and menopausal women between the ages of 45 and 60 years.  “Overall, these findings provide a plausible rationale for greater prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in women due to earlier initiation of pathology during the aging process,” wrote lead author Lisa Mosconi, PhD, from Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues. The results also “indicate a time frame of the perimenopause-to-menopause transition for early intervention to prevent and delay progression of Alzheimer’s in women.” {read more here}