TUESDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Most nonagenarians carry the ApoE ε3 genotype and few carry the ApoE ε4 genotype, with no association noted between the ApoE ε4 allele and quality of life (QOL), according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
Ajay K. Parsaik, M.B.B.S., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues explored the relationship between ApoE and QOL in 121 individuals aged 90 to 99 years. Demographic information was collected, and cognitive function, QOL, and ApoE distribution were evaluated. The participants, 87.6 percent of whom were female, included 45 cognitively normal individuals, 13 with mild cognitive impairment, 34 with dementia, and 29 with dementia with stroke and/or parkinsonism (DEMSP).
The researchers found that ApoE ε3 allele frequency was highest (80.2 percent; mainly ε3/3), followed by ApoE ε4 (10.3 percent), and ApoE ε2 (9.5 percent), with none of the subjects carrying ApoE ε4/4. ApoE ε4 carriers and non-carriers had similar QOL. QOL was positively associated with physical well-being, emotional well-being, intellectual well-being, social connectedness, and coping ability, and there was a negative association for male sex, DEMSP, pain frequency, and pain severity.
"In this community sample of oldest old, the most common genotype was ApoE ε3/3, while none carried ApoE ε4/4," the authors write. "No association was found between ApoE ε4 and QOL."
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