A new study suggests that a person with a father diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease can be more vulnerable to the spread of tau proteins in the brain, a major indicator of the condition.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the fastest growing brain disorders and the most common type of dementia. This is a brain shrinking disorder, in which brain cells are gradually damaged over time with aging. The disease affects memory, thinking skills, cognitive functions and makes it difficult for anyone to do its everyday tasks.

Published in Neurology, a study by McGil University in Montreal, Canada found that the child is likely to be diagnosed with it if the father has Alzheimer’s disease.

Although previous studies are typically associated with the high risk of a mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s, this research suggests that an ancestral relationship can play a more important role in how the disease affects the brain, especially in its early stages.

The study documentation of 243 participants, with all Alzheimer’s family history, but there are no current thinking or memory problems for about seven years.

At the average age of 68, the participants made brain scans and cognitive assessment in the onset and entire study.

During this period, 71 participants developed mild cognitive loss, which is a precursor to Alzheimer’s.

A person whose father Alzheimer’s was Alzheimer’s showed a major spread of tau, a protein that disrupts brain cell function and is closely associated with cognitive decline.

Surprisingly, this pattern was not strongly seen in the participants with the maternal history of the disease, the study author Sylvia Villainuway said.

In addition, female participants in the study were more likely to show heavy accumulation of tau than male participants, indicating a potential sex-linked vulnerability.

It was noted that these conclusions can help direct individual approaches to Alzheimer’s prevention and initial intervention, especially for people with genetic risk.