Risks

There are several risk factors that may increase ones chance of developing the disease. The first risk is that of having sustained a severe head injury that led to a brief moment of lost consciousness. This is said to double the risk of developing the disease later in life. Another risk is general aging. The third risk is having a parent or sibling who has developed the disease as this increases the risk by three or four times. The history of dementia in a first-degree relative is an important predictor of this disease. More that half of the cases have probably included a genetic factor. Some other risks include hypothyroidism, depression, parental age, and nonsmoking, though the biological mechanisms underlying these are largely uninvestigated and unknown. The development of the disease is most likely related to a combination of these as well as other environmental factors that may interact with certain identified susceptibility genes, ethnicity and gender.

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