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Risk of left ventricular dysfunction in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease with APOE*4 allele
T J van der Cammen1, C J Verschoor, C P van Loon
1Department of Internal Medicine I and Geriatric Medicine, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
The APOE*4 gene variant is linked to increased cardiac issues in Alzheimer's disease patients. Specifically, individuals with the APOE4/4 genotype show a higher prevalence of left ventricular dysfunction.
Area of Science:
- Neurogenetics
- Cardiology
- Geriatrics
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common comorbidity in AD patients.
- The apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, particularly the APOE*4 allele, is a known risk factor for AD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between APOE genotype and the presence of cardiovascular disease in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
- To determine if specific APOE genotypes are associated with increased cardiovascular risk in an AD cohort.
Main Methods:
- A case register study was conducted involving 100 consecutive patients referred to a Memory Clinic.
- Diagnoses of dementia type and cardiovascular comorbidity were established.
- APOE genotyping was performed on all participants.
Main Results:
- The APOE*4 allele was more frequent in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease.
- A nine-fold increase in cardiac ischemia prevalence was observed in APOE*4 homozygotes compared to APOE*3 homozygotes.
- Patients with the APOE4/4 genotype exhibited a 7.2-fold higher prevalence of left ventricular dysfunction parameters.
Conclusions:
- The APOE*4 allele is significantly associated with cardiac disease in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease.
- This association appears specifically linked to conditions indicative of left ventricular dysfunction.
Objective:
To examine the association between the APOE genotype and cardiovascular disease in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
Design:
Case register study of 100 consecutive referrals to a Memory Clinic where type of dementia and cardiovascular comorbidity were diagnosed and APOE genotype was determined.
Setting:
The Memory Clinic, University Hospital Rotterdam Dijkzigt.
Participants:
One hundred Memory Clinic patients, 59 to 91 years of age, who attended the Memory Clinic in the period between January 1994 and March 1996.
Measurements:
Relative risk of cardiovascular morbidity in probable AD, based on clinical and ECG findings.
Results:
The diagnosis of probable AD was more frequent in APOE*4 allele-carrying AD patients. When comparing homozygotes for APOE*4 with homozygotes for APOE*3, a nine-fold increase in prevalence of cardiac ischemia on ECG was found in the former. When grouping parameters of left ventricular dysfunction, the prevalence was 7.2 (95% confidence interval 1.2-42.6) times greater in probable Alzheimer patients with APOE4/4.
Conclusions:
In patients with probable AD, APOE*4 is associated with cardiac disease indicative of left ventricular dysfunction.