Basic Science and Pathogenesis

Race and ethnicity (R/E) are common descriptors used to stratify participants in genetic studies of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). These categories allow researchers to identify risk alleles, document effect size variation across groups, and asses etiologic differences among R/E groups. Importantly, R/E can serve as a proxy for unmeasured extrinsic risk factors correlated with, but separate from genetics, including the experience of R/E and the non-medical drivers of health (NMDH). Using data provided by the Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Consortium (ADGC), we estimated the non-genetic contributions of R/E on LOAD risk by adjusting for genetic risk factors and ancestry.

We obtained and cleaned genetic and demographic data from 42,015 ADGC participants (3,196 East Asian (EAS), 31,105 non-Hispanic White (NHW), 1,646 Hispanic and Latino (HIS), and 6,068 non-Hispanic Black (NHB) participants). To determine the risk contributions of NMDH captured by R/E, we performed logistic regression adjusting for APOE genotype, age, sex, and genetic ancestry via principal components. We next used K-means clustering to identify genetically distinct groups and reran the previously defined regression models using these clusters in place of R/E designations.

Using NHB as the referent group, we found that EAS, NHW, and HIS all had significantly increased chances of LOAD (odds ratio (OR): 2.43, 2.07, 2.04, respectively; all p <0.05). Subsequent analyses rotating the R/E referent group revealed significant OR differences between most of the remaining R/E groups. Interestingly, the HIS OR did not differ from the EAS or NHW OR. K-means clustering indicated the presence of five distinct genetic ancestries (African, East Asian, European, and two groups making up the HIS R/E group from the initial analyses - Amerindian and genetically admixed Latino). Amerindian ORs significantly differed only from African ORs while the OR difference between genetically admixed Latino and East Asian was non-significant. The remaining OR comparisons were identical to their respective R/E groups. Despite adjustment for genetic risk factors, R/E remained significant, indicating that R/E captures risk beyond that of genetic contributions.

This report demonstrated that extrinsic factors, including NMDH captured through R/E independently associate with LOAD risk.