Although dementia is more common in women, it appears that men are at higher risk of the earliest signs of the disease, according to latest research.

It's unclear why more men avoid full-blown disease, but understanding this might be key to beating dementia, Archives of Neurology reports.

Ultimately, it may even reveal a way to halt dementia, experts hope.

The US investigators tracked the health of nearly 1,500 elderly men and women over a three-year period.

During this time far more of the men developed mild cognitive impairment - 72 in every 1,000 compared to 57 per 1,000 women.

The Mayo Clinic researchers considered several factors that might have skewed the results, such as age, education and marital status, but found the gender difference persisted.

They say more work is now needed to understand if and how men might be somewhat resilient to dementia.

Dr Marie Janson, of Alzheimer's Research, UK said: "These surprising results suggest that men may be at greater risk for MCI (mild cognitive impairment) despite having a lower risk for dementia, and it will be important to see whether further studies can replicate these findings.

Read more at BBC News