More evidence that Alzheimer's disease may be inherited from your mother

March, 2011

A new study adds to growing evidence that having a mother with Alzheimer's disease is a greater risk factor than if your father suffered the disease.

A two-year study involving 53 older adults (60+) has found that those with a mother who had Alzheimer's disease had significantly more brain atrophy than those with a father or no parent with Alzheimer's disease. More specifically, they had twice as much gray matter shrinkage, and about one and a half times more whole brain shrinkage per year.

This atrophy was particularly concentrated in the precuneus and parahippocampal gyrus. Those with the APOE4 gene also had more atrophy in the frontal cortex than those who didn’t carry the ‘Alzheimer’s gene’.

This adds to evidence indicating that maternal history is a far greater risk factor for Alzheimer’s than paternal history. Eleven participants reported having a mother with Alzheimer's disease, 10 had a father with Alzheimer's disease and 32 had no family history of the disease. It has been estimated that people who have first-degree relatives with Alzheimer's disease are four to 10 times more likely to develop the disease.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/aaon-met022211.php

Reference:

[2167] Honea, R. A., Swerdlow R. H., Vidoni E. D., & Burns J. M.
(2011). Progressive regional atrophy in normal adults with a maternal history of Alzheimer disease.
Neurology. 76(9), 822 - 829.

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