Complications (1)
- Alzheimer's: Managing sleep problems
Definition (1)
- Early-onset Alzheimer's: When symptoms begin before 65
Risk factors (2)
- Diabetes and Alzheimer's linked
- Alzheimer's: Is it in your genes?
Symptoms (3)
- Alzheimer's or depression: Could it be both?
- Memory loss: When to seek help
- Alzheimer's stages: How the disease progresses
Tests and diagnosis (3)
- Diagnosing Alzheimer's: An interview with a Mayo Clinic specialist
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- SPECT scan
Treatments and drugs (3)
- Alzheimer's: Getting the most from medical appointments
- Alzheimer's drugs slow progression of disease
- Alzheimer's treatments: What's on the horizon?
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Early-onset Alzheimer's: When symptoms begin before 65
When Alzheimer's begins in middle age, misdiagnosis may be more likely. Rare disorder affects work, finances and family.
By Mayo Clinic staff
Early-onset Alzheimer's is an uncommon form of dementia that strikes people younger than age 65. Glenn E. Smith, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., answers questions about this condition.
How common is early-onset Alzheimer's?
Of all the people with Alzheimer's disease, only 5 to 10 percent develop symptoms before age 65. So if 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's, at least 200,000 people have the early-onset form of the disease. Early-onset Alzheimer's has been known to develop between ages 30 and 40, but that's very uncommon. It is more common to see someone in his or her 50s who has the disease.
What causes it?
It often runs in families. Many people with early-onset Alzheimer's have a parent or grandparent who also developed Alzheimer's at a younger age. A significant proportion of early-onset Alzheimer's is linked to three genes.
These three genes are different from the APOE gene — the gene that can increase your risk of Alzheimer's in general. But you can have the APOE gene and never develop Alzheimer's. Conversely, you can have Alzheimer's and not have the APOE gene. The genetic path of inheritance is much stronger in early-onset Alzheimer's. If you have one of those three genes, it would be very unusual for you not to develop Alzheimer's before age 65.
If early-onset Alzheimer's runs in my family, should I get tested for it?
That's a personal decision that only you can make. There are pros and cons to genetic testing. Anyone who's considering it should never proceed without genetic counseling — to examine these pros and cons beforehand.
Does early-onset Alzheimer's progress at a faster rate?
There's a perception that it does, but it's not backed up by hard data. It depends on what endpoint you're using in your measurement. If you use admission to a nursing home, that may occur earlier for the early-onset group — but only because their spouses have so many other things on their plates.
For example, people who have early-onset Alzheimer's often still have children at home. They or their spouses may have elderly parents that need care, too. That generation often is sandwiched between caring for their ailing parents and caring for their teenage children at the same time. Adding in a spouse with Alzheimer's can simply be too much to handle.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Early-onset Alzheimer's: I'm too young to have Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/national/documents/brochure_earlyonset.pdf. Accessed Jan. 6, 2009.
- Alzheimer's disease: Unraveling the mystery. National Institute on Aging. http://www.nia.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/0FA2EE06-0074-4C45-BAA3-34D56170EB8B/0/Unraveling_final.pdf. Accessed Jan. 6, 2009.
- Caselli RJ, et al. The degenerative dementias. In: Goetz CG. Textbook of Clinical Neurology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier Saunders; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/115694196-4/0/1488/287.html?tocnode=53802545&fromURL=287.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3618-0..10033-5--s0020_2313. Accessed Jan. 6, 2009.
- Financial matters. Alzheimer's Association. http://www.alz.org/living_with_alzheimers_financial_matters.asp. Accessed Jan. 6, 2009.
- Smith GE (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Jan. 27, 2009.
