Alzheimer's: Double Jeopardy

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Health News

The plight of having one parent with the mind-robbing disease, Alzheimer's, would be tough enough, but imagine it striking both parents. A recent study suggests that when both parents have the disease, their children face an increased risk of developing the condition.

In a study of 111 families, where both parents were affected with Alzheimer‘s, researchers found that more than 22 percent of their adult children had the disease themselves. This compares to prior studies, finding that 6 to13 percent of the U.S. population over 65 will develop the disease.

Alzheimer's typically starts about age 65 in adults who have two affected parents, and the odds of developing Alzheimer's grew with age. Also, the risk of developing Alzheimer's at an earlier age increases if additional relatives are affected with the disease.

In the study, diagnoses were confirmed through medical records, autopsies, and examination by researchers. The parents studied had 297 children who lived to adulthood, and 67 of those children had Alzheimer's. Of the 240 children who have not been affected, 78 percent have not yet reached their 70s and 80s, when disease claims most of its victims. Of the 98 children who have reached age 70, 41 of them (or about 42%,) had already developed Alzheimer's disease.

Experts have agreed that genetics plays a role in Alzheimer's disease, but the degree to which genetics is responsible for the disease is still unclear. "There probably is an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in the children of spouses that both have the disease," said lead researcher Dr. Thomas D. Bird, a professor of neurology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. "The exact magnitude of the risk, we don't know yet."

Bird's group is trying to determine the genetic factors at play. So far, only one genetic factor has been documented. "The hope is, there will be others and they will be found," Bird said. "Presumably, these children would have a higher concentration of those factors. So, that's what ought to be looked for."

Dr. Bird said he was uncomfortable saying the normal risk tripled or quadrupled in people with two affected parents, because the study was small and had no comparison group. "What I'm comfortable saying is that risk is increased and we're working on trying to find out what the magnitude is."

To date, there is no cure for the more than 26 million people worldwide estimated to have Alzheimer's, but there is strong hope that by the time many reach the age of risk, there will be better intervention methods.

The study, appearing in March's Archives of Neurology, was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Alzheimer's Limits Cancer Risk (part 2)

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Health News

The people that suffered from vascular dementia at the beginning of the study appeared to have no impact on hospitalization for cancer over the eight years of follow-up. But when compared to the people without Alzheimer’s, the patients with Alzheimer’s at the beginning of the study were 69 percent more likely to be hospitalized for cancer during the same time period. The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease was also reduced by 43 percent in white patients that had a history of cancer, when compared to the participants without cancer. However, the findings did not hold for other ethnic and racial groups. This new study appears online in the January 12 issue of the journal Neurology.



Roe says that more research will be needed to determine if cancer and the degenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, really are related. She said, “We are in the beginning stages of this research. There is a lot to be done before concluding that a link exists.

David Knopman, M.D., who is an Alzheimer’s disease specialist, agrees but says that his own clinical experience makes him think that something is going on. Knopman is currently a member of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and a professor of neurology.

Knopman said, “I see (Alzheimer’s) patients for four, five, and six years at an age when cancer is common, and they don’t seem to die of cancer as often as other patients. If there are shared genetic factors at work in cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s community may be able to learn from cancer research and the cancer community can learn from Alzheimer’s

Inflammation, Genes, and Hypertension All Contribute to Alzheimer's Risk

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US News and World Report

While you can't control your genes, you can improve the other two and lower your risk of dementia
By Deborah Kotz
Posted November 2, 2009
You might think of Alzheimer's disease as a genetic condition that you can do nothing to avoid. But that may not be the case. New research published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry suggests that Alzheimer's is partly driven by inflammation, a process that we do have some control over. In the study of 206 volunteers whose parents developed dementia late in life, Danish researchers found that, compared with those whose parents didn't have Alzheimers, the volunteers were more likely to have high blood pressure and high levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines

While the researchers note that 60 percent of an individual's Alzheimer's risk
appears to be driven by genes, the rest may be due to changeable lifestyle factors. The researchers write, "Our study shows that high blood pressure and an innate pro-inflammatory cytokine response in middle age significantly contribute to Alzheimer's disease. It is important to realize that early interventions could prevent late-onset Alzheimer's disease." These interventions include screening for:

Hypertension: About 40 percent of those with a parental history of Alzheimer's had high blood pressure—defined as having either a systolic blood pressure
of 139 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure of 89 mm Hg—compared with 29 percent of those who didn't have parents with the disease. High blood pressure appears to speed the development of beta amyloid plaque in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

[Read: How to lower your blood pressure with the DASH diet.]

Inflammation: Pro-inflammatory cytokines were higher in the offspring of Alzheimer's patients than in the control group. Cytokines are thought to contribute to the development of dementia, though it's not known exactly how.

[Here's a diet that will help stave off inflammation.]

Clogged arteries: The ankle-brachial index—which screens for artery disease by measuring the ratio of blood pressure in the lower legs to blood pressure in the arms—tended to be lower in those whose parents had Alzheimer's. This simple, noninvasive test can help alert doctors to your increased risk of both heart disease and Alzheimer's. The protein beta amyloid appears to be involved in the development of plaque in both the brain and the arteries, so taking steps to reduce your heart disease risk may also protect you from Alzheimer's.

A video about Alzheimer's disease

Aus researchers claim to slow down Alzheimer's disease

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Indopia

Melbourne

Researchers in Australia have claimed that will soon find a way to slow the process or altogether prevent Alzheimer's disease.

The membrane, which controls what is allowed into the brain, gets damaged if food containing high saturated fat is consumed, experts at Curtin University in Western Australia have found out.

Preventing deposits of protein amyloid from accumulating can delay Alzheimer's, researcher John Mamo said in an ABC report.

"If we can understand the mechanisms behind how diet influences risk for Alzheimer's disease then it becomes possible for us to think of what type of intervention strategy we might have," he said.

Mamo said it could also be possible to reverse it.