APOE-ε4 carriership and dementia risk over 10 years among Asian American and White older adults.

INTRODUCTION

The Apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (APOE-ε4) is a well-established dementia risk factor among non-Latino White individuals but remains understudied among Asian Americans. We estimated its association with dementia risk among Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and non-Latino White older adults in California.

METHODS

This longitudinal study included 1078 Chinese, 843 Japanese, 583 Filipino, and 43,821 non-Latino White participants from the Genetic Epidemiology Research in Adult Health and Aging cohort (mean baseline age = 70 years). Dementia was identified using electronic health records. We estimated effects of APOE-ε4 carriership on dementia risk using pooled logistic regression.

RESULTS

APOE-ε4 carriership prevalence ranged from 14% among Filipino to 25% among non-Latino White participants. APOE-ε4 carriership was associated with higher dementia risk across groups; 10-year risk ratios (95% confidence interval [CI]) ranged from 1.59 (0.66-3.10) among Filipino to 1.96 (1.36-2.78) among Japanese participants.

DISCUSSION: Despite differences in prevalence of APOE-ε4, its association with dementia risk was similar across Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and non-Latino White participants.