There are significant sex differences in the incidence rate, pathological features, and clinical progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in elderly women compared with males. This review systematically summarizes recent research advances in epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostic approaches, and therapeutic strategies for AD in elderly women. Epidemiological data reveal higher prevalence rates and accelerated cognitive decline in women with AD, potentially associated with sex-specific effects of the APOE ε4 allele, postmenopausal estrogen depletion, and exacerbated neuroinflammatory responses. In terms of diagnosis, the application of neuroimaging techniques and fluid biomarkers has improved early detection rates, yet there remains a need to further optimize sex-specific diagnostic criteria. Therapeutically, while existing pharmacological agents and nonpharmacological interventions demonstrate some effectiveness, the observed sex differences in therapeutic efficacy necessitate the urgent development of personalized treatment strategies. Future research should integrate emerging technologies to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying AD in women and strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration to advance the development of gender-sensitive diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. This review aims to provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the unique characteristics of AD in elderly women and optimizing clinical management strategies.

This study investigated the application effect of interactive digital teaching in the teaching of geriatric medicine to clinical medicine undergraduates. A total of 80 clinical medicine undergraduates in the 2022 class were selected and randomly divided into an experimental group (digital teaching) and a control group (traditional teaching), with 40 students in each group. The experimental group used the digital interactive teaching mode based on the virtual geriatric ward, which included three-dimensional (3D) brain science visualization (NeuroVR), holographic projection technology (HoloLens2), virtual cognitive assessment (CogTrack) and multirole scenario simulation. The results revealed that the experimental group was significantly better than the control group in terms of multiple dimensions of teaching satisfaction, especially outstanding performance in terms of “enhancement of patient communication skills”, “course vividness”, and “cultivation of love and injury awareness” (all P < 0.05). Female students had greater acceptance of digital teaching (e.g., “increased interest in learning”). This study shows that interactive digital teaching can effectively improve the teaching effect of geriatric medicine and enhance the clinical practice ability and humanistic quality of students, which provides new insights for the training of medical talent in an aging society. In the future, the application of technology can be further optimized to achieve deep integration with traditional teaching.