Prevalence of dementia and apolipoprotein e genotype distribution in the elderly of buttapietra, verona province, Italy.
We investigated the prevalence of dementia and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype distribution in the elderly of Buttapietra, a village near Verona, Italy. All residents over the age of 74 (n = 238), including those who were institutionalized, were studied using a direct-contact, single-phase design. The overall prevalence of dementia, clinically defined by DSM-III-R criteria, was 15.8 cases per 100 population, with age-specific figures increasing steeply with advancing age in both sexes. Alzheimer's disease (AD) was the most frequent dementing disorder (43%). APOE genotyping was determined after DNA amplification by restriction isotyping. We found that the epsilon4 allele and the epsilon3/epsilon4 genotype were associated with all types of dementia, although only the association of epsilon3/epsilon4 with AD reached statistical significance (odds ratio 4.5, 95% confidence interval 1.3-16.1). However, as reported in other Mediterranean countries, the frequency of the epsilon4 allele in our population was low (8.9%), suggesting that the population-attributable risk for AD, at least for elderly individuals (> or =75 years), could be small.
Benedetti
M D
MD
Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e della Visione, Sezione Neurologia Clinica, Università di Verona, Italia. mariadonata.benedetti@mail.azosp.vr.it
Salviati
A
A
Filipponi
S
S
Manfredi
M
M
De Togni
L
L
Gomez Lira
M
M
Stenta
G
G
Fincati
E
E
Pampanin
M
M
Rizzuto
N
N
Danti
G
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D017931:DNA Primers