Besides JFK, are there any known Addison's sufferers in the Kennedy political family?
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2Is there some reason to think that they would have been? Addison’s disease isn't genetic.– CominternSep 1, 2014 at 23:35
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1This is a "answer if you have valid input" question. Seriously, Samuel Clemens quotes apply here.– Cbaker510Sep 2, 2014 at 8:34
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2My government seems to think otherwise: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3484749, nhs.uk/Conditions/Addisons-disease/Pages/Causes.aspx– Cbaker510Sep 2, 2014 at 8:36
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@Cbaker510: That's a 31 year old paper now - written long before the human genome was sequenced. Do you have any reference more recent?– Pieter GeerkensAug 7, 2017 at 12:56
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1 Answer
Are there any known Addison's sufferers in the Kennedy political family?
Yes. His younger sister, Eunice Mary Kennedy.
JFK was formally diagnosed as having Addison's disease in September 1947, aged 30. He also suffered from hypothyroidism. His Wikipedia page notes that:
The presence of two endocrine diseases raises the possibility that Kennedy had autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2 (APS 2).
About half of the people who suffer with APS-2 also have relatives who are affected by an autoimmune disease. [source: Barbara A. Majeroni & Parag Patel: Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome, Type II, Am Fam Physician, 2007].
Although the inheritance pattern in APS-2 appears to be determined by multiple genes, given that link, it is perhaps unsurprising that a 2009 review of Kennedy's case stated:
It is public knowledge that Kennedy's younger sister, Eunice, had Addison disease and that his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., had Graves disease.
- [Lee R. Mandel: Endocrine and Autoimmune Aspects of the Health History of John F. Kennedy, Annals of Internal Medicine, 1 September 2009] (my emphasis)
If you are interested, the story of, and background to, JFK's diagnosis with Addison's disease is covered in Joan & Clay Blair's book, The search for JFK, pp 560-
answered May 1, 2019 at 22:07
