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Results
of a new study suggest that Alzheimer's patients who carry
the APOE-4 gene are more likely to suffer from delusions as
well.
The study,
appearing in Neurology, included 87 patients in the early
stages of Alzheimer's disease, who had no history of psychiatric
symptoms.
Participants
were followed for up to 9.3 years for development of delusions,
illusions, hallucinations, behavioral symptoms and depression.
Researchers
found that patients with one APOE-4 gene were two-and-a-half
times more likely to develop delusions than those who didn't
carry the gene. And the risk of developing delusions for patients
who carried two or more APOE-4 genes was almost six times
as great.
The associations
remained significant even after being adjusted for age, ethnicity,
sex, education, duration of disease, and cognitive and functional
performance.
The presence
of two APOE-4 genes was linked with a reduced risk for developing
hallucinations -- but only in the adjusted analysis.
No links
were found between APOE genotype and incidence of illusions,
behavioral symptoms or depression.
"The
presence of one or more APOE-4) alleles is a significant predictor
for the incidence of delusions in the course of (Alzheimer's
disease)," the researchers concluded.
Source:
Alzheimer Week
of April 28, 2002
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