Risk of left ventricular dysfunction in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease with APOE*4 allele.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between the APOE genotype and cardiovascular disease in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.


METHODS
Case register study of 100 consecutive referrals to a Memory Clinic where type of dementia and cardiovascular comorbidity were diagnosed and APOE genotype was determined.


METHODS
The Memory Clinic, University Hospital Rotterdam Dijkzigt.


METHODS
One hundred Memory Clinic patients, 59 to 91 years of age, who attended the Memory Clinic in the period between January 1994 and March 1996.


METHODS
Relative risk of cardiovascular morbidity in probable AD, based on clinical and ECG findings.


RESULTS
The diagnosis of probable AD was more frequent in APOE*4 allele-carrying AD patients. When comparing homozygotes for APOE*4 with homozygotes for APOE*3, a nine-fold increase in prevalence of cardiac ischemia on ECG was found in the former. When grouping parameters of left ventricular dysfunction, the prevalence was 7.2 (95% confidence interval 1.2-42.6) times greater in probable Alzheimer patients with APOE4/4.


CONCLUSIONS
In patients with probable AD, APOE*4 is associated with cardiac disease indicative of left ventricular dysfunction.
Department of Internal Medicine I and Geriatric Medicine, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
T J
TJ
van der Cammen
C J
CJ
Verschoor
C P
CP
van Loon
F
F
van Harskamp
I
I
de Koning
W J
WJ
Schudel
A J
AJ
Slooter
C
C
Van Broeckhoven
C M
CM
van Duijn
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000150:complications*
D001057:Apolipoproteins E