MADRID — Asymptomatic carriers of the apo E4 gene show significant longitudinal decline on measures of frontally mediated cognitive skills and memory, Dr. Richard Caselli reported at the 10th International Conference for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders.
Dr. Caselli, chairman of neurology at the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz., followed 35 apo E4 carriers and 33 noncarriers for at least 6 years, during which time all study participants received neuropsychological testing every other year.
Patients who developed symptomatic cognitive impairment were dropped. At baseline, carriers performed slightly better than noncarriers on the auditory verbal learning test, short-term recall, long-term recall, and percent recall. By the end of the study period, carriers had declined significantly more than noncarriers in short-term recall as well as in mental arithmetic, digit symbol substitution, and freedom from distractibility—all frontal mediated cognitive domains.