Early effect of ApoE-epsilon 4 allele on cognitive results in a group of highly performing subjects: the EVA study. Etude sur le Vieillissement Artériel.
We examined the association between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon 4 allele and cognitive performances in a population sample of 1174 high functioning volunteers aged 59-71 years. The neuropsychological battery included the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and nine tests assessing visual attention, verbal memory, visual processing, logical reasoning, psychomotor rapidity, visual memory, auditory attention and verbal fluency. The ratio of genotypes with zero, one or two epsilon 4 alleles was 70.6%, 21.4% and 1.9%, respectively. The epsilon 4 allele was significantly associated with lower scores for visual attention, psychomotor rapidity and MMSE. In the best performer subgroup (MMSE score above 25, n = 1028), all relationships persisted. Our findings demonstrate that the ApoE-epsilon 4 allele is early associated with low normal cognitive performances in areas which are not specifically affected at the subclinical onset of dementia.
Berr
C
C
INSERM U360, Recherches Epidémiologiques en Neurologie et Psychopathologie, Hôpital de La Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
Dufouil
C
C
Brousseau
T
T
Richard
F
F
Amouyel
P
P
Marceteau
E
E
Alpérovitch
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000483:Alleles; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
D001057:Apolipoproteins E