Role of apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE*?4) as an independent risk factor for incident depression over a 12-year period in cognitively intact adults across the lifespan.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The apolipoprotein E ?4 allele (APOE*?4) is indicated as a risk for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related diseases. The risk attributable to APOE*?4 for depression is less clear and may be because of confounding of the relationship between dementia and depression. AIMS:We examined the risk of APOE* ?4 for incident depression and depressive symptomology over a 12-year period across the adult lifespan. METHOD:Participants were from the Personality and Total Health Through Life study, aged 20 to 24 (n = 1420), 40 to 44 (n = 1592) or 60-64 (n = 1768) at baseline, and interviewed every 4 years since 1999. Ethnicities other than White, those without genotyping and those with depression at baseline, or who reported strokes and scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination <27 at any observation, were excluded. RESULTS:Over the study period, there was no evidence that APOE*?4+ was a risk factor for depression, including any depression (odds ratio (OR) = 0.94, 95% CI 0.77-1.16, P = 0.573), major depression (OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.60-1.53, P = 0.860), minor depression (OR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.67-1.30, P = 0.695) or depressive symptomology (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.02, 95% CI 0.97-1.08, P = 0.451). APOE*?4 was unrelated to incident depression. Findings were consistent for all age cohorts. CONCLUSIONS:Among cognitively intact Australian adults who were free of depression at baseline, there was little evidence that APOE*?4+ carriers are at increased risk for depression over a 12-year period among those who are cognitively intact.

SUBMITTER: Burns RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7331079 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature