Expert: Mary Gordon - 2/15/2011

Question
My husbands father 81 just diagnosed with Lewy Body Disease  is this a heredity disease  I have read up on several articles and found no answer  can you help  thanks

Answer
Hi Debra,

Lewy Body is NOT a dementia that appears to have a strong genetic component. At this point, researchers don't really understand the risk factors for Lewy Body, or even how Lewy Body and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's all relate, since they often seem to overlap and intertwine. There do appear to be some genes involved, but at this point, because the mechanisms are not clear, they don't really understand what triggers the illness. There are people with the genes who get the illness, and people with the genes who DON'T get the illness, so it's probably some combination of genetic tendency, environmental exposure, lifestyle and pure chance.

This link will give you an overview including some information about genetics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies

The biggest risk factor for any dementia is age. By the time we get to be in our 80's (if we are lucky enough to live that lone), all of us, no matter what our family background, have about a 50-50 chance of developing some sort of cognitive impairment. There are so many causes, and Lewy Body is just one. Our brains are very delicate.

If your husband is worried, there may not be much he can do about his family tree, but he can certainly take steps to make sure he is as healthy as possible. This gives you your best odds to survive into a healthy old age. After all, think about how few of us actually listen to our doctors, and take care of blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. We all should be keeping our weight down, exercising, avoiding stess, quitting smoking, not drinking too much, eating well and getting enough sleep. We all know this stuff, but we don't often do it!

There are very few dementias that have very strong inheritability - there are familial forms of Alzheimer's that hit people very young, and can be as much as 50/50 inheritable, but fortunately these are very rare, and Lewy Body is NOT one of these.

Hope this helps. I'm sorry your family is going through this.

Mary