title: The heritability of abstract reasoning in Caribbean Latinos with familial Alzheimer disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alzheimer disease (AD) is under substantial genetic influence. To better understand the genetic influence on component phenotypes of AD, we estimated the heritability (h(2)) of abstract reasoning and examined its relation with apolipoprotein epsilon 4 (APOE-epsilon 4).
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied abstract reasoning in 1,116 individuals from 210 Caribbean Hispanic families with late onset AD, using the similarities subtest scores from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. We computed h(2), then performed analysis of variance to examine the effect of APOE-epsilon 4.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Abstract reasoning was highly heritable (h(2)(unadjusted) = 79.9%). After adjusting for covariates, the h(2) was reduced to 32.6%, with education accounting for 40.8% of the variance. The APOE-epsilon 4 allele had no effect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abstract reasoning was strongly influenced by genetic factors and education. Genes other than APOE contribute to the inheritance of abstract reasoning ability.
authors.affiliation: Taub Institute on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Santana
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schupf
authors.forename: Ming-X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yaakov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayeux
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000208:ethnology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology