MONDAY, June 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Genetics can play a role in a person's odds for Alzheimer's disease , and new research suggests differences in that risk are based on which parent had the illness. In a study of 4,400 people still "cognitively unimpaired," there was higher buildup of amyloid protein plaques in the brain (a hallmark of Alzheimer's) if either the person's mother, or both parents, had Alzheimer's, compared to folks where Alzheimer's had only struck the father. People with an Alzheimer's-affected mother may therefore be at special risk, said a team from Mass General Brigham, in Boston.
"Maternal inheritance of Alzheimer’s disease may be an important factor in identifying asymptomatic individuals for ongoing and future prevention trials,” said study co-author Dr Reisa Sperling , a neurologist at Mass General. The findings were published June 17 in the journal JAMA Neurology . The study was based on data from a clinical trial focused on Alzheimer's prevention.
People in the study were asked about whether or not either of their parents had ever been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and when their parent's memory began to fail. Sperling and colleagues then compared those answers to levels of amyloid in people's brains. Having had a father who developed Alzheimer's symptoms relatively late in life did not seem to be related to levels of amyloid in people's brains, the research showed.
However, there was a correlation between the accumulation of brain pl.
