title: Apolipoprotein E-polymorphism, frailty and mortality in older adults.
abstract: Although apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphism is associated with variable risks of several illnesses, and with mortality, no persuasive relationship has been demonstrated with frailty. Here, the clinical examination cohort (n=1452 older adults, aged 70+ years at baseline) of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging was evaluated, with 5-year follow-up data. Frailty was defined using both the phenotypic definition from the Cardiovascular Health Study (Frailty-CHS) and the 'Frailty Index', from which age-specific trajectories of deficit accumulation can be estimated. In age-sex adjusted analyses, people with ApoE 4 allele had a higher risk of death (hazard ratio [HR]=1.20; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.45), but this relationship was not significant when adjusted for cognitive impairment (1.06; 95% confidence interval: 0.88-1.27). There was no association between frailty and ApoE polymorphism, defined in age-sex adjusted models either as Frailty-CHS (ApoE4 HR 1.17; 95% confidence interval: 0.98-1.40, frailty HR 1.37; 95% confidence interval: 1.28-1.46) or by the Frailty Index (ApoE4 HR 1.07; 95% confidence interval: 0.90-1.29, frailty HR 35.3; 95% confidence interval: 20.4-61.1). The data do not support an association between ApoE polymorphism and frailty. This result did not depend on how frailty was defined.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Kenneth.Rockwood@Dal.Ca
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rockwood
authors.forename: Bassam
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nassar
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitnitski
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E