Evaluation of APOE ε4 allele association with Depression and Anxiety among Elderly Individuals from India

Background Depression and Anxiety are the most widespread forms of psychiatric disorders. Studies on families and twins indicate that genetic variations can be a risk factor. Apolipoprotein ε4 gene is one such gene (APOE ε4). Studies on both humans and animals indicate that APOE ε4 may be a susceptibility gene in depression and anxiety disorders mean while the contradictory observations also reported. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of APOE isoforms on depression and anxiety among two aging Indian cohorts. Method The study participants are from ongoing Srinivaspura Aging Neuro Senescence and COGnition (SANSCOG) (n = 4913) and TATA Longitudinal Study for Aging (TLSA) (n = 1089) study which are longitudinal, observational studies on aging from rural and urban India respectively. Depression and Anxiety were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS‐30) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD‐7). APOE gene polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We performed the Chi‐square test to examine the relationship between prevalence of depression and anxiety in APOE ε4 homozygous, heterozygous and, non‐carriers. Result The basic socio demographic characteristics of both cohorts are escribed in Table 1. There was no significant association between APOE ε4 isoforms and prevalence of depression and anxiety in both cohorts as described in Table 2. Conclusion APOE ε4 did not show any association with depression or anxiety in both cohorts. There may be other factors are predominant in modulating the depression and anxiety. Moreover, ethnicity plays a significant role in the prevalence of APOE ε4 gene and its modulation effects.