Fast Five Quiz: Alzheimer's Disease Workup

Jasvinder P. Chawla, MD, MBA; Shaheen E. Lakhan, MD, PhD, MS, MEd

September 08, 2023

Genotyping for APOE alleles has been helpful in determining the risk for Alzheimer's disease in patient populations, but consensus statements advise against using APOE genotyping for predicting Alzheimer's disease risk, per Lakhan and colleagues.

The APOE epsilon 4 allele has been associated with dementia risk and is the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In the Copenhagen General Population Study and the Copenhagen City Heart study, the risk for Alzheimer's disease increased with decreasing (plasma apolipoprotein E) apoE levels, with a highly significant threefold increased risk in patients with the lowest tertile of apoE levels relative to the highest tertile. This association remained constant even after adjusting for the APOE genotype. The APOE genotypes associated with highest risk for Alzheimer's disease were epsilon 43 and epsilon 44, and those associated with the lowest risks were epsilon 22, epsilon 32, epsilon 42, and epsilon 33.

Learn more about genotyping in Alzheimer's disease.

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Cite this: Jasvinder P. Chawla, Shaheen E. Lakhan. Fast Five Quiz: Alzheimer's Disease Workup - Medscape - Sep 08, 2023.

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