ASSOCIATION OF APOLIPOPROTEIN-E PHENOTYPES WITH LATE-ONSET ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - POPULATION-BASED STUDY

Objective-To determine the association between the e4 allele of apolipoprotein E and Alzheimer's disease in a randomly selected population sample. Design-Cross sectional population based study. Subjects-980 people aged 69 to 78 (349 men, 631 women). Setting-Population of Kuopio, eastern Finland. Main outcome measures-Presence of e4 allele and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by detailed neurological and neurophysiological evaluation. Results-46 (4.7%) subjects were classified as having probable or possible Alzheimer's disease. The frequency of the apolipoprotein E e4 allele was 0.359 in patients with Alzheimer's disease and 0.165 in subjects without dementia (P<0.0001). The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease was 2.9% in subjects with no e4 alleles, 7.6% in subjects with one e4 allele, and 21.4% in subjects with two e4 alleles of apolipoprotein E. Conclusions-Allele e4 of apolipoprotein is associated with Alzheimer's disease in a dose-response fashion in a randomly selected elderly population.