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Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism and Frailty: Apolipoprotein ε4 Allele Is Associated with Fatigue but Not Frailty Syndrome in a Community-Dwelling Older Population Cohort

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objective

Frailty is known to be influenced by genetics, however, little evidence on the association of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype and frailty exists which we aim to investigate.

Design

This study is a cross-sectional analysis from a prospective longitudinal study cohort.

Setting and Participants

Community-dwelling individuals aged 55 years and older from Beijing region in China.

Measurements

A total of 3,569 older adults with a mean age of 75.06(±6.79) years were included. We investigated the association between ApoE polymorphism and frailty syndrome using the frailty index (FI) and frailty phenotype (including association with individual components of the frailty phenotype). Logistic regressions were performed to investigate the relation between ApoE variants and frailty.

Results

There was no significant association between ApoE variants and frailty as assessed by the FI. In the age and sex-adjusted model, compared to the ApoE e3/e3 carriers ApoE e4 carriers had almost 1.5 times higher odds of being frail as assessed by the frailty phenotype. However, the significance was lost on the model with adjustment for cognitive impairment. Compared to the ApoE e3/e3 carriers ApoE e4 carriers had almost two times higher odds of fatigue. ApoE e4 heterozygotes had higher odds of fatigue compared to ApoE e4 non-carriers. No significant association was found between ApoE variants and other components of frailty phenotype.

Conclusions

Our findings do not support an association between ApoE genotype and frailty irrespective of the frailty assessment tools. Fatigue in older adults is the only component of frailty phenotype influenced by ApoE genotype.

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Acknowledgement

Funding: This study was supported by grants from the National Key Ramp;D Program of China, [grant no. 2018YFC1312001] and the Beijing Municipal Commission on Science and Technology [grant no. D07050701130000 and 070S0701130701].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Neurology and Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing, China

    J. K. Chhetri, L. Ma, Z. Zheng, F.-Y. Liu, J. Zhao, Z.-Q. Gu & Piu Chan

  2. National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Beijing, China

    J. K. Chhetri, L. Ma & Piu Chan

  3. Chinese National Human Genome Center, Beijing, China

    Z.-Q. Gu

  4. Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Disease of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory for Parkinson’s Disease, Parkinson Disease Center of Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China

    Piu Chan

  5. Clinical Center for Parkinson’s Disease, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Piu Chan

  6. Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Piu Chan

  7. Department of Neurobiology, Neurology and Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, No. 45 Changchun Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, 1000S3, China

    Piu Chan

Authors
  1. J. K. Chhetri
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  2. L. Ma
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  3. Z. Zheng
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  4. F.-Y. Liu
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  5. J. Zhao
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  6. Z.-Q. Gu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Piu Chan.

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Declaration of Competing Interests: All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical standards: This study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University.

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Chhetri, J.K., Ma, L., Zheng, Z. et al. Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism and Frailty: Apolipoprotein ε4 Allele Is Associated with Fatigue but Not Frailty Syndrome in a Community-Dwelling Older Population Cohort. J Nutr Health Aging 25, 410–415 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1522-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1522-1

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