title: APOE influences on neuropsychological function after mild head injury: within-person comparisons.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between neuropsychological outcome following mild head injury (MHI) and APOE genotype.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from a population-based longitudinal study (n = 3,500) were used to identify 34 adults who experienced MHI during the course of the study. Their pre- and postinjury performances on a battery of nine neuropsychological tests were compared within person, and the postinjury performance was compared with that of age- and gender-matched control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The within-person comparisons showed that participants with at least one APOE epsilon4 allele (n = 11) had a significantly decreased postinjury performance on three of the tests, whereas the postinjury performance for APOE epsilon4-negative participants (n = 23) was unchanged. There was no significant difference in postinjury performance between participants with/without the epsilon4 allele, and neither group was impaired relative to controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  APOE genotype may influence the outcome following an MHI. Pre/postinjury within-person comparisons seem more sensitive than control group comparisons for detecting injury-related effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden. anna.sundstrom@psy.umu.se
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sundström
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marklund
authors.forename: L-G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cruts
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Adolfsson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van Broeckhoven
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nyberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E