For people with Down syndrome is Alzheimer’s dementia is one of the main causes of death. After a preliminary British study, whose significance is so far a low number of participants is limited, causing seventy percent of the death cases of Down syndrome due to this dementia. To die, the risk increases accordingly, with the memory loss by five times.

That Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease are so closely linked together, is due to the fact that the Protein in the presumed pathogenic Alzheimer’s Plaques is formed by a Gene on chromosome 21. Since people with Down syndrome have three instead of two copies of chromosome 21, have you from the beginning, a larger amount of this Protein.

The Forgotten begins with the Down syndrome with an average age of 55 years, 65 years, 90 percent of the men and women are demented with this chromosomal disorder. Rosalyn Hithersay from King’s College in London and her colleagues also show, what is the dementia – and the risk of death during the Down-influenced syndrome. Protecting good overall health is affected, obviously. Hithersay and her colleagues are calling for, therefore, careful medical care for the Affected. Unfavorable is also a late onset of epilepsy. Genetic factors similar to that of people without Down syndrome.

life expectancy has increased

A protective function, the so-called ApoE2-allele, dementia is good for the ApoE4 allele. With the latter Gene, the risk of death in Down syndrome will be increased by a factor of Seven. In Jama Neurology, published study is based on a comparatively small data base. The study involved 221 men and women took part over 35 years with Down syndrome. Nearly a third suffered from dementia. 27 study participants died during the multi-year phase of the study, 19 of them in dementia.

the calculation of The risk of Death refers to this small group. Nevertheless, the results by Michael Rafii of the Keck School of Medicine in San Diego, and Stephanie L. Santoro, of the Harvard Medical School in a comment as important to be classified, because they make clear how little is known about the importance of Alzheimer’s dementia for the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome are known. This group of people is involved, because of the restricted Consent is also almost never of clinical studies. We also know little about how the dementia, announces in people with Down syndrome and developed. In the study, it showed only that the disease is diagnosed in those who are most likely still living in the family environment and not in a care facility.