The Impact of APOE ε4 on Neuropsychological Test Performance in Hispanics: The Panama Aging Research Initiative – Health Disparities Study

INTRODUCTION: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is a well-established risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, with the APOE ε4 allele being the most strongly associated genetic variant. Research has suggested that the influence of APOE ε4 on cognitive decline may vary across different populations. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between APOE genotype and cognitive aging in Hispanics. METHODS: A diverse sample of Hispanic adults was recruited for a study on cognitive aging. Data were analyzed for n = 725 participants from the Panama Aging Research Initiative - Health Disparities (PARI-HD) study. Participants were divided into 2 groups, an outpatient cohort (n = 269) and a community cohort (n = 456) and underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. RESULTS: A greater number of participants in the outpatient cohort were cognitively impaired than the community cohort, and the outpatient cohort had a significantly higher frequency of ε4 (33.8% vs. 25.7%). Results showed that carrying at least one copy of the APOE ε4 allele was a significant predictor of cognitive impairment in the community cohort (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.14-3.72, p = 0.017) but was not significantly associated with performance on cognitive tests for either cohort. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that APOE ε4 confers risk for cognitive deterioration in the Panamanian population, highlighting the importance of considering genetic and demographic factors in understanding the heterogeneity of cognitive impairment.