1998/01/01 by Irma-Leena Notkola, Raimo Sulkava, Juha Pekkanen +5 · 3 citations
Medicine · Neuroscience · #Alzheimer's disease research and treatments #Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research #Nuclear Receptors and Signaling #Apolipoprotein E #Medicine #Internal medicine #Cholesterol #Odds ratio #Allele #Endocrinology #Risk factor #Apolipoprotein B #Genotype #Pathogenesis #Confidence interval #Alzheimer's disease #Disease #Genetics #Biology #Gene
paper · doi:10.1159/000026149
openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/18
The epsilon 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (apoE) is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and also with elevated serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels. However, the interrelationships between apoE genotype, plasma cholesterol levels and AD risk have been studied very little. We examined the possible role of serum total cholesterol in the pathogenesis of AD in a population-based sample of 444 men, aged 70-89 years, who were survivors of the Finnish cohorts of the Seven Countries Study. Previous high serum cholesterol level (mean level > or = 6.5 mmol/l) was a significant predictor of the prevalence of AD (odds ratio = 3.1; 95% confidence interval = 1.2, 8.5) after controlling for age and the presence of apoE epsilon 4 allele. In men who subsequently developed AD the cholesterol level decreased before the clinical manifestations of AD. We conclude that high serum total cholesterol may be an independent risk factor for AD and some of the effect of the apoE epsilon 4 allele on risk of AD might be mediated through high serum cholesterol.