Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Knowledge Of Apoe Genotype On Subjective And Objective Memory Performance In Healthy Older Adults, Tara Lineweaver, Mark Bondi, Douglas Galasko, David Salmon

Tara T. Lineweaver

Objective—The knowledge that one carries the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease was recently found to have little short-term psychological risk. The authors investigated the impact of knowledge of carrying the risk allele on subjective ratings of memory and objective memory test performance of older adults. Method—Using a nested case-control design, the authors administered objective verbal and visual memory tests and self-rating scales of memory function to 144 cognitively normal older adults (ages 52–89) with known APOE genotype who knew (ε4+, N=25; ε4−, N=49) or did not know (ε4+, N=25; ε4−, N=45) their genotype and genetic …