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Abstract
Objective To test for interactions between APOE ε4 genotype and lifestyle factors on worse cognitive abilities in UK Biobank.
Methods Using UK Biobank cohort data, we tested for interactions between APOE ε4 allele presence, lifestyle factors of alcohol intake, smoking, total physical activity and obesity, and sex, on cognitive tests of reasoning, information processing speed, and executive function (n range = 70,988–324,725 depending on the test). We statistically adjusted for potential confounders of age, sex, deprivation, cardiometabolic conditions, and educational attainment.
Results There were significant associations between APOE ε4 and worse cognitive abilities, independent of potential confounders, and between lifestyle risk factors and worse cognitive abilities; however, there were no interactions at multiple correction-adjusted p < 0.05, against our hypotheses.
Conclusions Our results do not provide support for the idea that ε4 genotype increases vulnerability to the negative effects of lifestyle risk factors on cognitive ability, but rather support a primarily outright association between APOE ε4 genotype and worse cognitive ability.
Glossary
- AD=
- Alzheimer disease;
- BMI=
- body mass index;
- CHD=
- coronary heart disease;
- CI=
- confidence interval;
- DSST=
- Digit Symbol Substitution Test;
- FDR=
- False Discovery Rate;
- RT=
- reaction time;
- TMT=
- Trail-Making Test
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
- Received April 24, 2018.
- Accepted in final form February 4, 2019.
- © 2019 American Academy of Neurology
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