[stevewoods]

Alzheimer's has been known to affect more of women than men. Earlier it was postulated that women have tendency to live longer life, and hence are more prone to Alzheimer's. But this shouldn't be the only factor (and it's not technically sound) since women have been known to get the disease early in the age as well. 

It has been known that estrogenic compounds protect against mitochondrial toxicity of amyloid-beta, and as the estrogens tend to deplete with age, the disposition to the disease might increase.  More clinical research is needed in this regard to establish the basic reason that leads to more vulnerability of women to this disease; and better ways to treat it.

Following is the link to a research paper on this topic:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20442496