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Heritability for Alzheimer's disease: the study of dementia in Swedish twins
Author(s)Margaret Gatz, Nancy L Pedersen, Stig Berg
Journal titleThe Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and medical sciences, vol 52A, no 2, March 1997
Pagespp M117-M125
KeywordsDementia ; Twins ; Sweden.
AnnotationAlzheimer's disease has been thought to have familial and sporadic forms, and several genetic defects have been identified that explain early-onset familial cases. This study aimed to detect all cases of dementia in an established twin registry, and to estimate the total extent of genetic contribution to liability to Alzheimer's disease. Using the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA), which consists of a subset of twins from the population-based Swedish Twin Registry, to screen 781 twin pairs for dementia, the study identified 65 pairs in which one or both was demented. Findings revealed a substantial genetic effect late-onset Alzheimer's disease cases. However, structural modelling results and large intra-pair differences in age of onset indicated that environmental factors are of importance in determining whether and when an individual may develop dementia.
Accession NumberCPA-971125208 A
ClassmarkEA: SVR: 76P

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