Besides age, the biggest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease is having a parent or other first-degree relative with the condition. A new study adds to growing evidence that inheriting it from your mother is much worse than inheriting it from your father.Researchers at the University of Kansas School of Medicine recruited 21 adult children (age 63 to 83) of Alzheimer’s patients who were still “cognitively intact.” They examined their brains using an MRI scanner on two occasions, two years apart. Then they compared those brain scans with those of 32 other healthy adults in the same age group with no family history of Alzheimer’s. Members of both groups had similar levels of education and cognitive performance.Though none of the subjects exhibited any outward signs of dementia, the brain scans revealed that the 11 people whose mothers had Alzheimer’s had lost significantly more gray matter over the 2-year period than the 10 people whose fathers had the disease and compared with the 32 people with two healthy parents. That cell loss was especially pronounced in two areas of the brain – the left precuneus (which plays a role in episodic memory, among other functions) and the left parahippocampas gyrus (which is involved in encoding and retrieving memories).Other regions that took a hit were “the anterior cingulate, the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, the right hippocampus, right precuneus, and posterior cingulate,” according to a study in the March 1 edition of the journal Neurology The brains of those whose fathers had Alzheimer’s disease were essentially the same as those of subjects with no family history. Only having a mother with the disease appeared to influence the degree of brain atrophy.The researchers said they don’t know why Alzheimer’s appears to be more aggressive when inherited from one’s mother instead of one’s father. Perhaps it’s related to mitochondrial DNA , which is inherited only from one’s mother and which may be responsible for faulty glucose metabolism in brain tissue affected by Alzheimer’s, they wrote. ||||| Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer's Disease. Credit: Wikipedia/public domain. Researchers at Mayo Clinic developed a new scoring system to help determine which elderly people may be at a higher risk of developing the memory and thinking problems that can lead to dementia. The study is published in the March 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. 
 
 "Our goal is to identify people who are at the highest risk for dementia as early as possible" said study author Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., Chester and Debbie Cadieux Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Cora Kanow Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Research and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Early detection of individuals at high risk of developing memory and thinking problems that we call mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is crucial because people with MCI are at a greater risk of developing dementia. This allows for a wider window of opportunity to initiate preventative measures." 
 
 The study involved 1,449 randomly selected people from Olmsted County, Minnesota between the ages of 70 and 89 who did not have memory and thinking problems. At the start of the study and at visits every 15 months for an average of 4.8 years, participants were given memory and thinking tests. During the study, 401 people—nearly a third—developed MCI. 
 
 The scoring system took into account factors that could be easily obtained from medical records, such as years of education, number of medications, history of stroke or diabetes, and smoking. Researchers also factored in information obtained at the clinic visit, such as a test of thinking abilities, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and slow gate. Factors were assigned a score based on how much they contributed to the risk of developing thinking problems. For example, being diagnosed with diabetes before age 75 increased the risk score by 14 points, while having 12 or fewer years of education increased the risk by two points. 
 
 Many predictive factors were different for men and women. While the risk of MCI increases with age overall, younger men were at a higher risk of developing MCI than younger women. Conversely, older women have a somewhat higher risk than older men. 
 
 Variables such as age, diabetes, heart health risk factors, slow gate, depression and anxiety disorders, stand out as contributing most to the risk score. The APOE gene, which has been linked to a higher risk of dementia, was determined in the study to be only a moderate risk factor. 
 
 "This risk scale provides an inexpensive and easy way for doctors to identify people who should be referred to more advanced testing for memory issues or may be better candidates for clinical trials," said Petersen. 
 
 Explore further: Study: Men at higher risk for mild memory loss than women
– People whose mothers had Alzheimer's appear to have a greater risk of developing dementia themselves, reports the Los Angeles Times. University of Kansas researchers studied the brains of about 50 healthy senior citizens over two years and found that those whose mothers had the disease showed the most deterioration, especially in the areas associated with memory. Those whose fathers had Alzheimer's and those whose parents never got it fared better. The full study is in the journal Neurology, which requires a subscription.