AMA #46: Optimizing brain health: Alzheimer's disease risk factors, APOE, prevention strategies, and more

99% of patients who go on to develop Alzheimer's disease do not have one of the 'deterministic genes.' Of those patients, about two-thirds have at least one copy of the APOE4 gene. Now, to put that in context, about 25% of the general population has at least one copy of the APOE4 gene.

Alzheimer's disease is both the most common neurodegenerative disease and the most common cause of dementia.

Globally, the prevalence of AD is 2 to 1 in favor of women to men. So, women are literally twice as likely to get Alzheimer's disease as men.

We know that there is a strong genetic component to Alzheimer's disease, and we know that there are several genes that are implicated in this.