INCREASED RISK OF DEMENTIA IN MOTHERS OF ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE CASES - EVIDENCE FOR MATERNAL INHERITANCE

This study tests the hypothesis of maternal inheritance of AD in famil ies of 118 subjects with this disorder enrolled in The Consortium to E stablish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD). The parental gene ration included 24 subjects with dementia. Using the Cox proportional hazards model, we found the age-adjusted mother-to-father relative ris k to be 2.8 (95% CI, 1.1 to 7.7). Among a subset of 10 families with o ne affected parent and at least two affected siblings, the ratio of af fected mothers-to-fathers was 9:1. These findings support recent studi es that found a high mother-to-father ratio among affected parents of subjects with AD. Together, these results suggest maternal inheritance of AD and are consistent with several hypotheses regarding the geneti c nature of AD.