People and risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease
People at risk
- People aged 60 and over. THE’age is the main risk factor: the risk of developing the disease doubles every 5 years from the age of 65;
- The women (because they live longer than men);
- People who have a parent, a sibling with Alzheimer’s disease. Their risk of being affected in turn is increased by 10% to 30% compared to the rest of the population;
- People whose parents have hereditary family form of Alzheimer’s disease. Children with an affected parent have a 50% chance of having the disease themselves;
- The people ofHispanic and African American descent are more likely to have the disease (up to 2 times more)3.
Risk factors
Most important factors
- Systolic hypertension;
- Hypercholesterolemia;
- Diabetes poorly controlled by medication;
- Smoking.
Factors of lesser importance
- Severe head trauma with loss of consciousness (occurring, for example, in boxers);
- Obesity;
- Personal history of depression.