>>...all these eight factors combined were associated with a risk that was higher in men (35.9%) than in women (30.1%).

I'd guess you mean relative risk - if only because women have a higher absolute risk of AD (even when adjusting for their longer longevity) than men.

There have been a couple of interesting hypotheses as to why that might be (e.g., gender difference in mitochondrial susceptibility to amyloid poisoning) but I haven't seen anything convincing - mostly because AD etiology is still unknown.

Speaking of etiology, it's pretty clear that early onset AD is genetic (PSEN1, PSEN2, APP), and a result of amyloid issues, and the early onset is what Alzheimer originally identified. IMO we'd be further along if we hadn't conflated that with the late onset variety. I'm starting to sound like a record with a skip - sorry.