Luciano Michelle, Gow Alan J, Harris Sarah E, Hayward Caroline, Allerhand Mike, Starr John M, Visscher Peter M, Deary Ian J
Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Psychol Aging. 2009 Mar;24(1):129-38. doi: 10.1037/a0014780.
The e4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene confers risk of Alzheimer's disease and, in some studies, relates to cognitive ability and decline in older people without Alzheimer's disease. Its relationship with processing speed, a contributor to cognitive decline with age, is largely unknown. This study tests the association of APOE with cognition and speed, with and without covarying childhood mental ability. The 1,013 participants were tested on cognitive ability at age 11 as part of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 and, at age 70, were tested on reasoning, working memory, information processing speed, and executive function. The results showed that APOE was associated with the general cognitive factor, 2 nonverbal tests, and choice reaction time (RT) variability; as expected, the e4 allele was the risk allele. RT measures and a general speed factor were nonlinearly related to APOE when factoring childhood ability (p < .05): The correlation between childhood ability and speed was lower in e4 allele carriers. APOE has an influence on nonverbal cognition in old age and interacts with childhood IQ to influence processing speed.
载脂蛋白E（APOE）基因的e4等位基因会增加患阿尔茨海默病的风险，并且在一些研究中，还与未患阿尔茨海默病的老年人的认知能力及认知衰退有关。其与处理速度（随着年龄增长导致认知衰退的一个因素）之间的关系在很大程度上尚不清楚。本研究检验了在考虑和不考虑童年期心理能力共变的情况下，APOE与认知及速度之间的关联。1013名参与者在1947年苏格兰心理调查中接受了11岁时的认知能力测试，在70岁时接受了推理、工作记忆、信息处理速度和执行功能测试。结果显示，APOE与一般认知因素、2项非语言测试以及选择反应时（RT）变异性有关；正如预期的那样，e4等位基因是风险等位基因。在考虑童年期能力时，RT测量值和一个一般速度因素与APOE呈非线性相关（p < 0.05）：在e4等位基因携带者中，童年期能力与速度之间的相关性较低。APOE对老年人的非语言认知有影响，并与童年期智商相互作用以影响处理速度。
