Family members of J.D. “Jasper” Cain suspected he had Alzheimer’s disease as they watched the once fun-loving father and husband struggle with memory and movement. Three doctors thought he had Parkinson’s disease and kept raising his medication dose when he didn’t improve.
A resistance to dementia may be a family legacy, according to new research.
“In very elderly people with good cognition, higher levels of C-reactive protein, which is related to inflammation, are associated with better memory,” said study author Jeremy M. Silverman, Ph.D., with Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
“Our results found that the higher the level of this protein in the study participant, the lower the risk for dementia in their parents and siblings.”
Scientists have created an ‘early signs timeline’ for Alzheimer’s disease that they believe could help experts detect the condition up to 25 years before it strikes.The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 128 people with a family history of early Alzheimer’s.