A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham suggests that whether a person inherits risk of Alzheimer's disease from their mother or father influences risk of biological changes in the brain that lead to disease. By evaluating 4,400 cognitively unimpaired adults ages 65-85, the team found those with a history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) on either their mother's side or both parents' sides had increased amyloid in their brains. Their results are published in JAMA Neurology.
Our study found if participants had a family history on their mother's side, a higher amyloid level was observed. Hyun-Sik Yang, MD, Study Senior Corresponding Author and Neurologist, Mass General Brigham Yang is a Behavioral Neurologist in the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is also a physician investigator of Neurology for the Mass General Research Institute.
Yang collaborated with other researchers from Mass General Brigham, as well as investigators from Vanderbilt and Stanford University. He said previous smaller studies have investigated the role family history plays in Alzheimer's disease. Some of those studies suggested maternal history represented a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's, but the group wanted to revisit the question with cognitively normal participants and access to a larger clinical trial data set.
The team examined the family history of older adults from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) study, .
