Apolipoprotein E and cognition in community-based samples of African Americans and Caucasians.
To compare relative frequencies of apolipo-protein E (APOE) alleles in African-American and Caucasian populations and test associations with cognition, we studied two community-based samples: one of 253 African Americans and another of 466 Caucasians age 60-84 years. Logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, education, and history of hypertension and diabetes was used to associate APOE with five cognitive measures. The APOE-epsilon4 allele frequency was 29.5% in African Americans and 12.1% in Caucasians. In the African Americans, no association was found between the presence of the APOE-epsilon4 allele and any of the cognitive measures. Among Caucasians, APOE-epsilon4 carriers performed more poorly on three of the five tests. We also report a considerably higher frequency of the APOE-epsilon4 allele in our African-American sample compared to other US-based studies.
Borenstein
Amy R
AR
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, MDC-56, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33612-3805, USA. aborenst@hsc.usf.edu
Mortimer
James A
JA
Wu
Yougui
Y
Jureidini-Webb
Fern M
FM
Fallin
M Daniele
MD
Small
Brent J
BJ
Mullan
Michael
M
Crawford
Fiona C
FC
D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D044465:White People
D001057:Apolipoproteins E