Alzheimer's Gene?Is there an Alzheimer's Gene? And did we inherit it? Will my (Paula’s) children suffer from the disease? There are so many questions! We know from experience that it is difficult to care for an Alzheimer’s patient day after day and not wonder if we will need the same kind of care from a loved one in our lifetimes. Did we inherit the "Alzheimer's Gene!" Of course, in our research to learn how to best care for our Mom we wanted to know what the signs, symptoms, and causes of Alzheimer’s are. In doing this research we learned whether or not we or our sisters or any of our children are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or not. The short answer is yes and no. Let assure you that the answer is the same for you. Much study has been done about the genetic factors of Alzheimer’s Disease. And, so far, everything we have found written about it is pretty scientific sounding. But right now you are learning how to be a caregiver for a dementia patient who may or may not be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Even if you enjoy reading and analyzing scientific data you probably don’t have time for that right now. So we’ll try to make this simple. (If you want to do your own research we have cited our sources at the end of this article.) According to one study approximately 75 percent of people with Alzheimer’s disease have no sign of it in their family history. Of course this doesn’t account for those people who may not know their complete family history or cases that may have gone undiagnosed. Almost all of these cases develop after age 65. The disease can either be early onset (develops before age 65—We’re pretty sure this is the kind our Mom had.) or late onset (develops after age 65.) Mutations in several different genes can cause Alzheimer’s Disease. So, no, there is not one "Alzheimer's Gene." We found several different studies that named many different genes. We thought about listing them here, but honestly, the list kept getting longer and longer and we didn’t want to overwhelm you with all the possibilities. It seems that new studies often find new theories and ideas of which genes can cause the disease. And along with the genetic mutations there are also the environmental and hereditary factors. So, the easy answer is that there is no one Alzheimer's Gene that “causes” Alzheimer’s Disease and although there are tests available they cannot predict definitively whether or you (or we) will develop the disease and they also open up a whole new set of questions about whether we really want to know. . . The best advice we can give you is to make sure your loved ones know how to find this website just in case they ever need the information. :-) The following articles were found and used in our research on this topic by doing a web searches for the term “alzheimers gene” and “test to determine alzheimers gene”:
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