[Prevalence of Variants in the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) Gene in a General Population of Adults from an Urban Area of Medellin (Antioquia)]

Abstract

Objective: To determine the allelic and genotype frequencies of apolipoproteine E (APOE) gene in a representative sample of the adult population of Medellin in 2010.

Methods: A representative sample of the adult population of Medellin, was obtained by means of a multi-stage, stratified, conglomerate based sampling method. APOE genotyping was carried out on each of the participants. The sampling design was taken into consideration for the frequencies and association analysis.

Results: The frequencies of the APOE alleles E2, E3 and E4 were 3.9, 92.0 and 4.1%, respectively. The frequencies of the different APOE genotypes were as follows: 2/2, 0.2%; 2/3, 6.8%; 2/4, 0.6%; 3/3, 85.0%; 3/4, 7.2%, and 4/4, 0.3%.

Conclusions: The allelic and genotype frequencies of APOE in an adult population of Medellin did not differ substantially from other series reported in South America. These data are important to determine the real impact of APOE on the population risk of several psychiatric diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease; Apolipoprotein E; Apolipoproteína E; Enfermedad de Alzheimer; Esquizofrenia; Genetics; Genética; Prevalence; Prevalencia; Schizophrenia.