Association study of gene polymorphisms involved in vascular alterations in elderly hypertensives with subjective memory complaints.

BACKGROUND: We have recently shown that vascular abnormalities are associated with cognitive impairment as well as with white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in elderly hypertensive patients presenting with subjective memory complaints (SMC), a population at high risk of developing dementia. The aim of the present study was to identify genetic variants associated with the degree of cognitive impairment and the severity of WMH in the same study population, focusing on genes involved in vascular alterations.

METHODS: 50 gene polymorphisms known to be associated with vascular alterations (blood pressure regulation, lipid and homocysteine metabolism, thrombosis and inflammation) were genotyped using a multilocus genotyping assay in 369 elderly treated hypertensive patients >60 years of age and presenting with SMC but no dementia. The patients underwent a combination of neuropsychological tests and brain magnetic resonance imaging with semiquantification of WMH.

RESULTS: None of the tested polymorphisms were found to be associated with age- and gender-adjusted memory score, visual capacity, body-mass-index-adjusted verbal fluency score or the age-adjusted WMH Fazekas score.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the associations between arterial factors and cognitive decline or WMH are not genetically driven by the genes we investigated, at least at this early stage of cognitive decline.