Expert: Paula Damgaard - 12/28/2009

Question
My maternal grandmother (age 77) and my father (age 70) each have died from  alzehimers, what are the chances of my siblings (1 brother, 1 sister) and I of having alzehimers?

Answer
Right now the percent of ANYONE getting the disease is 15%  having a first degree relative double that.  However, unless you have autopsy reports on your father and grandmother you don't really know for sure that they had Alzheimer's.  I hope you do, and I hope that if you don't and someone else in the family shows symptoms that you make sure that an autopsy is done.  Then at least you could have more evidence to support their probable diagnosis.  

Because we don't know what causes it or how it develops, until we have those answers we don't know the hereditary risks, unless you are in a family that develops the disease early in life (early forties).  

So best advice to all of you: eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke, all the heart healthy precautions.  

Paula