ABSTRACT.
Dementia and vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI) currently impose a tremendous human and economic burden on patients from aging populations and their families worldwide. Understanding the interplay of cardiometabolic risk factors and apolipoprotein E (APOE) may direct us to a more personalized medicine and preventative care in MCI and dementia.
Objective:
To evaluate the relationship of cardiometabolic risk factors with MCI and assess the APOE genotype’s role in an elderly cohort in the Dominican Republic.
Methods:
We studied a cohort of 180 participants 65 years of age and older using a combined assessment of cardiometabolic risk factors, neuropsychological battery tests, and APOE genotyping. We used the number of failed tests as a proxy to predict MCI.
Results:
We found that patients with the ε3-ε4 APOE genotype had 2.91 higher number of failed cognitive tests (p=0.027) compared to patients with the ε3-ε3 genotyped. The rate of test failures increased 10% (p=0.025) per unit increase in HbA1c percentage.
Conclusions:
Increased Hemoglobin A1c levels and ε3-ε4 APOE genotypes seem to have an association with the development of VaMCI.
Keywords:
vascular dementia; risk factors; apolipoproteins E; metabolic syndrome; diabetes mellitus