Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and dementia: a hospital-based study from southern India.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ApoE gene polymorphism among patients with dementia from southern India.


METHODS
Persons with dementia attending a geriatric clinic in a hospital setting located in southern India and matched controls were recruited. All subjects were evaluated on standard assessments and were diagnosed according to the ICD-10; genotyping was done at the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) locus.


RESULTS
The study comprised 212 cases and 195 controls. The ApoE4 allele was significantly more prevalent in dementia (λ = 0.18 vs. λ = 0.07; p = 0.0018), especially in the Alzheimer's disease subgroup (n = 137; λ = 0.21 vs. λ = 0.07; p < 0.001), with a trend in vascular dementia subtype (n = 31; λ = 0.17 vs. λ = 0.07) in comparison with the control group. ApoE4 carrier status did not differ between the other dementia group (n = 44) and controls (p > 0.20), or between the Alzheimer's group and vascular dementia groups. Cognitive and functional deficits were not correlated to the presence ApoE4 polymorphism in the dementia group.


CONCLUSIONS
The study confirmed the positive association of the ApoE4 polymorphism in dementia, both in the Alzheimer's and vascular etiology subgroups. Influence of this polymorphism on various clinical phenotypes, including extent of cognitive and functional deficits, needs further evaluation.
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Hosur Road, Bangalore, India. srikala.bharath@gmail.com
Srikala
S
Bharath
Meera
M
Purushottam
Odity
O
Mukherjee
Bhavani Shankara
BS
Bagepally
Om
O
Prakash
Lakshminarayanan
L
Kota
Srinivas Brahmadevarahalli
SB
Krishnappa
Palanimuthu Thangaraju
PT
Sivakumar
Sanjeev
S
Jain
Mathew
M
Varghese
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D001057:Apolipoproteins E