Effect of apolipoprotein E ε4 and its modification by sociodemographic characteristics on cognitive measures in South Asians from LASI‐DAD

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDWe investigated the effects of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 and its interactions with sociodemographic characteristics on cognitive measures in South Asians from the Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study of India (LASI‐DAD).METHODSLinear regression was used to assess the association between APOE ε4 and global‐ and domain‐specific cognitive function in 2563 participants (mean age 69.6 ± 7.3 years; 53% female). Effect modification by age, sex, and education were explored using interaction terms and subgroup analyses.RESULTSAPOE ε4 was inversely associated with most cognitive measures (p < 0.05). This association was stronger with advancing age for the Hindi Mental State Examination (HMSE) score (βε4×age = −0.44, p = 0.03), orientation (βε4×age = −0.07, p = 0.01), and language/fluency (βε4×age = −0.07, p = 0.01), as well as in females for memory (βε4×male = 0.17, p = 0.02) and language/fluency (βε4×male = 0.12, p = 0.03).DISCUSSIONAPOE ε4 is associated with lower cognitive function in South Asians from India, with a more pronounced impact observed in females and older individuals.Highlights APOE ε4 carriers had lower global and domain‐specific cognitive performance. Females and older individuals may be more susceptible to ε4 effects. For most cognitive measures, there was no interaction between ε4 and education.