The effect of APOE and other common genetic variants on the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia: a community-based cohort study

Publication date: Available online 16 March 2018 Source:The Lancet Neurology Author(s): Sven J van der Lee, Frank J Wolters, M Kamran Ikram, Albert Hofman, M Arfan Ikram, Najaf Amin, Cornelia M van Duijn Background Alzheimer's disease is one of the most heritable diseases in elderly people and the most common type of dementia. In addition to the major genetic determinant of Alzheimer's disease, the APOE gene, 23 genetic variants have been associated with the disease. We assessed the effects of these variants and APOE on cumulative risk and age at onset of Alzheimer's disease and all-cause dementia. Methods We studied incident dementia in cognitively healthy participants (aged >45 years) from the community-based Rotterdam Study, an ongoing prospective cohort study based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focusing on neurological, cardiovascular, endocrine, and ophthalmological disorders, and other diseases in elderly people. The Rotterdam Study comprises participants in three baseline cohorts (initiated in 1990, 2000, and 2006), who are re-invited to the research centre every 3–4 years, and continuously monitored by records from general practitioners and medical specialists. Cumulative incidence curves up to age 100 years were calculated for Alzheimer's disease and dementia, taking into account mortality as a competing event. These risk curves were stratified by APOE genotypes, tertiles of a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) of 23 Alzheimer's disease-associated ...
Source: The Lancet Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research