B. Schmand et al., APOLIPOPROTEIN-E PHENOTYPE IS NOT RELATED TO LATE-LIFE DEPRESSION IN A POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE, Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 33(1), 1998, pp. 21-26
Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) allele frequencies were examined in a populati
on-based sample (n = 475; age range 65-84 years; Amsterdam Study of th
e Elderly). The relation of ApoE epsilon 4 with dementia and with vari
ous types of late-life depression was studied. Depression was measured
with the Geriatric Mental State schedule. Dementia was diagnosed by D
SM-III-R criteria. It was expected that ApoE epsilon 4 allele frequenc
ies would be elevated not only in Alzheimer's disease and dementia in
general, but also in first episode, late-life depression accompanied b
y subtle cognitive impairment (possibly organic depression). However,
the results indicated that epsilon 4 allele frequency is related to (f
amily history of) dementia and cognitive impairment, but not to possib
ly organic depression. The main predictor of late-life depression is a
n episode of psychiatric problems before the age of 65 years.