APOE ε4 allele is associated with worse performance in memory dimensions of the mini-mental state examination: the Bambuí Cohort Study of Aging.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 and the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) dimension in an elderly population, using baseline data from the Bambui (Brazil) Cohort Study of Aging.

DESIGN: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study.

SETTING: The study took place at Bambui city, Minas Gerais State, Southeast Brazil.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1408 (87.7%) cohort participants had complete information on the MMSE and health measures.

MEASUREMENTS: The association between each of five dimensions (concentration, language/praxis, orientation, attention, and memory) underlying the MMSE and APOE ε4 allele was assessed using multivariate linear regression models. Potential confounding variables included sociodemographic factors and selected biomarkers.

RESULTS: The main finding is a strong negative association between the presence of APOE ε4 allele and memory dimension in the MMSE (fully adjusted β coefficient = -0.14; 95% confidence interval: -0.27 to -0.04; p = 0.016). No other cognitive dimensions showed significant associations with the APOE ε4 allele.

CONCLUSION: This study is the first to investigate the association between dimensions of the MMSE, obtained from principal component analysis and APOE ε4 carrier status in community-dwelling older adults taking into account a range of potential confounding factors. We found a strong negative association between the presence of APOE ε4 allele and scores on memory dimension of the MMSE, but no effect on other dimensions. Our results reinforce previous data on the literature that APOE ε4 allele has a significant effect on cognitive performance that can be detected even in screening tests, such as the MMSE.