A brain scanning study using Pittsburgh Compound B, involving 42 healthy individuals (aged 50-80), of whom 14 had mothers who developed Alzheimer's, 14 had fathers with Alzheimer's, and 14 had no family history of the disease, has found that those with a maternal history had 15% more amyloid-beta plaques than those with a paternal history, and 20% more than those with no family history. The findings add to evidence that having a mother with Alzheimer’s is a greater risk factor than having a father with Alzheimer’s. The groups did not differ in age, gender, education, or apolipoprotein E (ApoE) status.
Mother’s Alzheimer’s greater risk factor than father’s
Reference
Mosconi, L., Rinne, J. O., Tsui, W. H., Berti, V., Li, Y., Wang, H. Y., … de Leon, M. J. (2010). Increased fibrillar amyloid-β burden in normal individuals with a family history of late-onset Alzheimer’s. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(13), 5949-5954. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/107/13/5949.abstract
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