More Evidence Alzheimer's May Be Inherited From Mom

Research has suggested a genetic link to Alzheimer's disease. If one of your parents has it, the risk that you will one day get it increases.

Now, results from a new study finds that if it is your mother who has the cognitive illness, the odds against your are even greater. The study is published in the March 1, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"It is estimated that people who have first-degree relatives with Alzheimer's disease are four to 10 times more likely to develop the disease themselves compared to people with no family history," said study author Robyn Honea, DPhil, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City.

For the study, an equal number of participants had a father with Alzheimers and an equal number had a mother with the illness. The groups were given brain scans and cognitive tests throughout the study.

Twice the gray matter shrinkage

The researchers found that people with a mother who had Alzheimer's disease had twice as much gray matter shrinkage as the groups who had a father or no parent with Alzheimer's disease.

In addition, those who had a mother with Alzheimer's disease had about one and a half times more whole brain shrinkage per year compared to those who had a father with the disease. Shrinking of the brain, or brain atrophy, occurs in Alzheimer's disease.

"Using 3-D mapping methods, we were able to look at the different regions of the brain affected in people with maternal or paternal ties to Alzheimer's disease," said Honea. "In people with a maternal family history of the disease, we found differences in the break-down processes in specific areas of the brain that are also affected by Alzheimer's disease, leading to shrinkage. Understanding how the disease may be inherited could lead to better prevention and treatment strategies."

Growing threat

Alzheimer's continues to be the focus of intense medical research as millions of Baby Boomers enter the age in which they are at risk. A 2010 report by the Alzheimer's Association projects that as many as 10 million baby boomers in the U.S. will eventually develop Alzheimer's, a degenerative and always fatal disease.

Today, as many as 5.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, which includes between 200,000-500,000 people under age 65 with young-onset Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Medical researchers predict by 2010, there will be almost a half million new cases of Alzheimer's disease each year; and by 2050, there will be almost a million new cases each year.

Eventually, the report says, the disease will strike one out of every eight Boomers.