Apolipoprotein E ε4 allele is associated with vascular cognitive impairment no dementia in Chinese population

Abstract Background The association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele and vascular cognitive impairment no dementia (VCIND) is still controversial. Objective To examine the relationship between the APOE e4 allele and patients with VCIND after cerebral infarction. Methods This study included first-ever cerebral infarction patients 3–12 months after the attack at the Xuanwu Hospital between June 2012 and December 2014. Patients were divided into VCIND group and normal cognition group (NC group).The APOE e4 carriers (including e2/e4, e3/e4 and e4/e4 genotypes) and e4 allele frequency were analyzed in relation to cognition grouping after cerebral infarction. MRI features of infarctions and some known risk factors for VCIND，as confounding factors, were also analyzed for correlation with VCIND at the same time. Results Participants (n = 707) were divided into the VCIND (n = 361) and NC (n = 346) groups. The percentage of APOE e4 carriers was higher in the VCIND group (23.6%) than in the NC group (12.7%, P  Conclusion These results confirms the hypothesis that the APOE e4 allele is a risk factor associated with VCIND after cerebral infarction.