A 9-year prospective population-based study on the association between the APOE*E4 allele and late-life depression in Sweden.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

It is well established that there is an association between the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele (APOE*E4) and Alzheimer's disease. It is less clear whether there is also an association with geriatric depression. We examined the relationship between APOE*E4 and 5-year incidence of depression in a Swedish population-based sample of older adults without dementia and excluding older adults who developed dementia within 4 years after the diagnosis of depression.

METHODS:

In 2000-2001, 839 women and men (age range, 70-92 years; mean age, 73.8 years) free from dementia and depression underwent neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological examinations and genotyping of the APOE*E4 allele. Follow-up evaluations were conducted in 2005 and 2009.The association between APOE*E4 allele and 5-year incidence of depression was examined, while avoiding possible confounding effects of clinical or preclinical dementia by excluding participants who had dementia at study entry, subsequently developed dementia during the 9-year follow-up period, or had a decline in Mini-Mental State Examination score of ≥5 points.

RESULTS:

Among subjects without depression at study entry and without dementia or significant cognitive decline during the subsequent 9 years, APOE*E4 was prospectively associated with more severe depressive symptoms (b = 1.56, p = .007), incident minor depression (odds ratio = 1.99 [confidence interval = 1.11-3.55], p = .020), and any depression (odds ratio = 1.75 [confidence interval = 1.01-3.03], p = .048).

CONCLUSIONS:

The presence of the APOE*E4 allele predicted future depression in this Swedish population study, even after excluding depressed individuals who later developed dementia, suggesting that the APOE*E4 allele could potentially identify people at high risk for clinically significant depression.

• Authors: Ingmar Skoog, Margda Waern, Paul Duberstein, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg, Anne Börjesson-Hanson, Svante Östling, Xinxin Guo, Jürgen Kern, Deborah Gustafson, Pia Gudmundsson, Thomas Marlow, Silke Kern
• Journal: Biological psychiatry (Biol Psychiatry) Vol. 78 Issue 10 Pg. 730-6 (Nov 15 2015) ISSN: 1873-2402 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25708227 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Apolipoprotein E4

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Apolipoprotein E4 (genetics)
• Depressive Disorder (epidemiology, genetics)
• Depressive Disorder, Major (epidemiology, genetics)
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Humans
• Late Onset Disorders (epidemiology, genetics)
• Male
• Prospective Studies
• Sweden (epidemiology)