| March 10, 2008 Both parents battling Alzheimer's? Risk for offspring rises.
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(NECN/ABC) - Children whose parents both develop Alzheimer's disease face a much higher chance of getting it themselves.
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which typically develops in midlife, has a large genetic component, but the genetics of late-life Alzheimer's is more of a mystery.
Researchers at the University of Washington studied the relationship between genes and Alzheimer's in 111 families where both parents suffered from the disease.
They followed nearly 300 children of these couples and found that a very high percentage of them - nearly 1 in 4 - developed Alzheimer's disease as adults.
Researchers estimate this risk is as high as 4 times greater than that of the general population.
A genetic analysis revealed that a major Alzheimer's gene called ApoE was more common among children whose parents both had the disease.
However, most offspring did not have this gene, so researchers are studying more genetic possibilities.
Experts are also quick to point out that increased genetic risk does not mean a person is guaranteed to develop Alzheimer's - despite their strong family history, the vast majority of people in the study did not have the disease.
ABC News reporter Viviana Hurtado has more in this Medical Minute.
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