Dr. Bobs Health Records
Dr. Bob has Clear Genetic Risk for Dementia, but doesn’t seem to Demonstrate Evidence at this point
Dementia. Most of us would rather die than get that. Cardiovascular disease risk is certainly our greatest chance of leaving the world, but dementia allows us to leave the world while we are still here. It’s a loss of self. For most people, it’s our greatest fear because we recognize how it would affect our loved ones. We intuitively understand the pain that they would endure as they watched us become the shell of our former self, and they were left with a task of taking care of the chassis with the super computer leaving the game. Devastating if you’ve ever witnessed it.
So let’s un-package my Risk of Dementia according to my Complete Genomics Analysis and our current understanding of those genes that increase risk. As you can see from the overview page below, I have several different genetic variants that increase my risk of dementia. I am going to particularly focus on the top two, my increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia, and the other variant, Dementia with Lewy bodies.
The first expanded study is a description of my increased risk that is associated with my possession of one copy of ApoE 4. This is the most popularized variant that increases risk of dementia. It also increases risk of vascular disease and insulin insensitivity. The link to dementia is well-established. The allele frequency is 15%, meaning that you have a 15% chance of getting one of these copies from your mother and a 15% chance of getting one of these copies from your father. It’s not rare, but you’re kind of unlucky if you get a copy. The Study List included in this genetic analysis was considerably longer than the first several that I included. Generally it is excepted that one copy of ApoE 4 increases your risk of dementia somewhere between 2 1/2 and four times that of a person who has ApoE 3/3, the wild genotype. Having puppies increases risk somewhere around 10 to 12 times. I generally check this on most of my patients within the first few years after entering my practice, depending on family history, their lipid status and age.
Looking at the next genetic variant that I got lucky to possess, a variant at the genetic site TOMM40, has an allele frequency of 14%. And it looks like from the meta-analysis of 12 studies, it increases risk of Alzheimer’s dementia about fourfold. Yay for me!
Another Genetic variant that I possess increases my risk of Dementia with Lewy bodies. This has an allele frequency of 10%, so I got even luckier to get this one. At least it looks like that it only increases my risk of dementia by a little over two fold.
Below that you will see my most recent CNS vital sign testing. This is a validated form of testing that can help uncover evidence that cognitive decline is present. You should be aware that when I tested the first time in 2013, I scored roughly 50% above average and 50% average. This was prior to instituting anything that I learned from my training in Age Management Medicine. Since that time I’ve been on testosterone replacement therapy, and transformed my nutritional plan and customized my exercise regimen. I take items supplements that demonstrate biological plausibility that they may help reduce my risk of dementia. I had steady improvement over the next several years, to the point where right now, I typically test 10 or 11 domains above average and one or two domains average. It is likely that some of that improvement is due to the interventions that I have altered since gaining a greater understanding of how nutrition, exercise, hormones and even supplementation can impact my cognitive health.
I would expect that the main reason that I am not demonstrating evidence of cognitive decline at this point in my life, despite these clear genetic risks that I demonstrate, is that I have been a lifelong exerciser. Most of us that study and review the scientific evidence on preventing cognitive decline would agree that exercise is the most important intervention.
Dr. Bob’s CNS Vital Signs Results
