APOE ε4 and Decline in Health and Financial Literacy in Advanced Age

Health and financial literacy decline in aging, but it is unclear why. In this study, we hypothesized that older people who are carriers of the APOE ε4 allele exhibit a steeper decline in literacy over time.

Participants were 851 community-dwelling older adults without dementia at analytic baseline (188 ε4 carriers and 663 noncarriers). Literacy was assessed at baseline and each year thereafter for up to 14 years.

In a linear mixed-effects model adjusted for age, gender, and education, ε4 was associated with a lower starting level of literacy (b = -3.60, SE b = 1.00, p < 0.001) and, critically, a roughly 40% steeper decline in literacy over time (b = -0.41, SE b = 0.14, p = 0.004). The association between ε4 and literacy decline persisted after adjusting for global cognition at baseline (b = -0.35, SE b = 0.14, p = 0.012) and among a subgroup of participants with no cognitive impairment at baseline (b = -0.34, SE b = 0.14, p = 0.016).

ε4 contributes to literacy decline among older adults, presumably due in part to the accumulation of neuropathologies associated with ε4. We discuss the potential clinical implications of ε4-related literacy decline.