Have the experts figured out what causes alzhiemers in younger people ?

Often genetic: Familial ad(fad) is often a result of presenilin genes that are passed on via our genetics. It is uncommon, but you will see large amount of family members affected by ad often before age 50. A times, there maybe a mutation responsible for the ad, that will not be passed on in the genes to other family members. T.

Yes & No: In some very rare situations, there are families where just about everyone develops azlheimer's disease at a very young age. The most famous is in medellin, colombia. There is also an autosomal dominant group which was published in nejm http://ow.Ly/cbgta. We can test for apoe4 but that doesn't necessarily imply younger age at diagnosis nor is it very predictive.

Some causes: We know about 50% of the genes for young onset ad: presenilin 1 accounts for about 45%. Presenilin 2 and app mutations account for 1-2%. The apo-e gene is a risk factor for late onset disease (usually after age 60). The alzheimer's association has more information and a video about genetic causes: http://www.Alz.Org/alzheimers_disease_early_onset.Asp.