Alzheimer’s Disease News, Articles & Information

A new study, out of the University of Washington, has suggested that there is a strong genetic component to Alzheimer’s disease. the study found that an individuals’ chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease are almost three times greater if both parents have been diagnosed with the disease.

The study, which was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, followed 111 families in which both parents had been diagnosed with the disease.

Of the 297 children born to the parents, 67 of the children (23 percent) had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the 98 of the children who had reached the age of 70 years, 41 of them (42 percent) had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the general population just 14 percent of those over the age of 70 are thought to be living with Alzheimer’s disease.

Around 31 percent of the children older than 60 years and 36 percent of those over 65 years had developed Alzheimer’s disease compared to around 8 percent and 11 percent in the general population respectively.

The genetic component to Alzheimer’s disease has yet to be understood fully. Currently only one gene, called ApoE, has been linked to increased Alzheimer’s disease risk however it is likely that many more such genes exist. Those who have a particular form of the ApoE gene, called E4, are thought to be at increased risk of atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and reduced growth of axons and dendrites in the brain.

According to Dr. Thomas Bird, who is the director of the Genetics Core of the University of Washington Disease Research Center and senior author of the study, “I think it confirms that there’s a strong genetic component in the disease and that’s not a surprise.”

The study appears in the March edition of the journal, Archives of Neurolgy.