Effect sizes of APOE e4 on the same general cognitive ability test taken by the same people from age 11 to age 90: The Lothian Birth Cohorts 1921 and 1936.

ABSTRACT: Variation in the gene for apolipoprotein E (APOE) is one of the few variables that is associated with individual differences in age-related cognitive decline in humans. Therefore, it is important to understand the conditions that affect the strength of its effect. Here we examine how the effect size of APOE variation (possession of one or more e4 alleles) on a test of general cognitive ability changes with age from 11-90 years. The data are from the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1936 and 1921 who took the same cognitive test (the Moray House Test No. 12) at, respectively, ages 11 (N = 954), 70 (N = 1001), 76 (N = 636), 79 (N = 471), and 11 (N = 483), 79 (N = 533), 87 (N = 198), 90 (N = 120). The standardised absolute effect of APOE e4 on general cognitive ability was about zero at ages 11 (beta

SUBMITTER: Deary IJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12700797 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature