Complain about a product or service

Alzheimer's Risk Higher in Victims' Children

Risk rises if both parents had Alzheimer's, study finds

March 10, 2008

• Dementia Linked To Obesity • Studies Find Link Between Diabetes and Alzheimer's • Lifestyle Linked to Alzheimer's Onset • Pot Belly in Middle Age Linked to Alzheimer's • 10 Million Boomers Face Alzheimer's • Alzheimer's Risk Higher in Victims' Children • Fast-Acting Alzheimer's Therapy Excites Researchers • Too Much Sugar May Increase Alzheimer’s Risk • Beta Carotene May Slow Memory Loss • Promising Alzheimer’s Discovery Reported • Misconceptions About Alzheimer's Vary Among Races • Mediterranean Diet May Extend Alzheimer’s Patients’ Lives • Researchers Link Smoking To Dementia • Caffeine May Keep Dementia At Bay In Women • Alzheimer’s Drug Seen As “Safe, Effective” • Researchers “A Step Closer” To Alzheimer’s Cure • FDA Approves Alzheimer’s Patch • Scientists Raise Hopes For Alzheimer's Vaccine • Researchers Hopeful About New Alzheimer’s Therapy • Blood Pressure Drugs May Provide Alzheimer’s Protection • Progress Toward Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis Reported • Alzheimer's Cases Up 10% In 5 Years • Loneliness Linked to Dementia • Gene Changes Identified in Alzheimer's • Mental Exercise May Help Seniors • Rote Learning Improves Memory in Seniors • Vegetables May Slow Memory Loss • Cabernet Sauvignon May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk • Fruit Juice May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk • Skin Test May Detect Alzheimer's Disease • Exercise May Prevent Dementia-Like Illnesses • An Apple A Day May Improve Memory • New Drug Reverses Alzheimer's Damage, Australian Researchers Report • Diabetes Drug May Help Treat Alzheimer's • For Women, Weight Loss May Precede Dementia • Researchers "Closer" To Preventing Alzheimer's • Statins Help Memory in Older Women • Study Links Healthy Diet To Reduced Alzheimer's Risk • Tea May Help Combat Alzheimer's • Education May Accelerate Alzheimer's Effects • Alzheimer's Found to be Mostly Genetic • Exercise May Reduce Risk of Dementia in Older People • Researchers Find DNA Link to Alzheimer's • Brain Scan, Fluid Analysis May Help Predict Alzheimer's • Eating Fish Associated With Slower Cognitive Decline • Word Recall An Alzheimer' s Tip-Off? • Interrupted Alzheimer's Trial Produced Promising Results • Gene Therapy May Offer Hope For Alzheimer's Patients • Alzheimer's Researchers Reverse Memory Loss in Mice • Alzheimer's Disease Reveals Itself Earlier, Study Finds

If both of your parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, you may have an increased risk of developing the disorder compared with the general population, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Neurology.

Alzheimer’s disease is a common cause of dementia in the U.S. population and the leading cause of cognitive impairment in the elderly population, and identifying genes in Alzheimer’s disease patients can help detect others who are at risk for the condition.

“Because Alzheimer’s disease is so common in the general population, it is not uncommon for both spouses to develop the disease. Offspring of two such affected individuals would presumably carry a higher burden of these Alzheimer’s disease -- associated genes,” according to the study.

University of Washington, Seattle, researchers studied the frequency of Alzheimer’s disease in adult children of 111 families in which both parents had been clinically diagnosed with the disease. Ages at onset of dementia were also noted.

Of the 297 offspring who reached adulthood, 22.6 percent developed Alzheimer’s compared with an estimated 6 percent to 13 percent of the general population.

The average age at onset for children of couples with the illness was 66.3. The risk of developing the disease increased with age with 31 percent of those older than age 60 affected and 41.8 percent of those older than age 70 affected.

“Of the 240 unaffected individuals, 189 (78.8 percent) had not yet reached age 70 years, suggesting that the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (22.6 percent) is an underestimation of the final incidence rate of Alzheimer’s disease in this population,” the authors write.

Having additional family members with Alzheimer’s disease did not increase the risk of developing the disease, but was associated with a younger age at onset for those who did develop the illness.

Children with no history of the disease beyond the parents had an older age at onset (72 years) compared with those who had one parent with family history of the disease (60 years) or both parents with family history of the illness (57 years).

“The role of family history and the specific genes involved in this phenomenon require a better definition,” the authors conclude. “Families with a significant Alzheimer’s disease history may be more likely to be referred to an Alzheimer’s disease research center and, thus, the present patients may be ‘enriched’ for a particularly Alzheimer’s disease-prone subgroup. Following these families as the offspring continue to age will provide increasingly informative data.”

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |