Alzheimer’s transmission to grandchildren

Hello, My son’s grandfather has had an Alzheimer’s disease. I’ve heard, that there’s a big chance that it transfers to grandkids. Is there such statistic? What would be the earliest age to take precautions and how? Maybe it’s too early to ask, but this problem worries me.

Thank you for an answer.

In a case of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (diagnosis at the age of 50-65 years) the genetic factors are more important than in the late-onset disease. We know only very few spesific genes involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and they are genes for presenilin (1 and 2) and amyloid precursor protein. Also the gene for apolipoprotein has some variations which raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (ApoE4).

The earliest age to take precaution is right now. The biggest risk load comes from the vascular risk factors including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, passive way of living (no physical exercise) and high blood glucose. If you take care of these risk factors at the middle age (40-50 years), you can reduce your risk for later life dementia significantly.

Best Regards,
Markus Halminen

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