A Growing Awareness of Early Onset Alzheimer's

People typically develop Alzheimer's in their late 60's or in their 70's. But there's a growing awareness that younger people can have the disease too. The Alzheimer's Association is ramping up publicity and educational efforts for Early Onset Alzheimer's disease, and now the Alzheimer's Research Forum has developed a section of its site devoted to Familial Early Onset Alzheimer's

James Smith and his wife Juanita have been working to increase awareness of Early Onset through web-based sites, speeches and meetings such as the Alzheimer's Association Public Policy Forum where I met them. Check out the short RealLife.tv video of James talking about his life after diagnosis with Early Onset Alzheimer's, as well as a companion video of Juanita talking about how their lives have changed.

Comments

[Judy M.]

My mother in law has alzheimers....does that mean my husband has a greater chance of getting the disease too???

[Mona Johnson]

Judy,

Researchers have discovered three genetic variations that cause early onset familial Alzheimer's, but those variations are fairly rare. While it does appear that having a parent with Alzheimer's increases your chances of developing the disease, there's no agreement on how much it increases your risk, or on the role of environmental factors vs. genes. You can see an overview of Alzheimer's genetics and one researcher's opinion at http://www.tangledneuron.info/the_tangled_neuron/2007/07/dr-rudolph-tanz.html. See also http://www.tangledneuron.info/the_tangled_neuron/2007/05/i_dont_know_why.html.