Overview
- Drawing on 18,080 participants across eight cohorts, investigators identified 1,623 individuals over 80 whose memory scores exceeded averages for adults ages 50 to 64.
- Compared with peers over 80 with Alzheimer’s, these high performers were 68% less likely to carry the APOE-ε4 risk variant and 19% less likely than cognitively normal peers.
- They were 103% more likely than Alzheimer’s cases and 28% more likely than cognitively normal peers to carry the protective APOE-ε2 variant.
- The observational analysis, published Jan. 16 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, was led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and co-authored by Leslie Gaynor.
- Authors say the findings strengthen evidence that genetics contributes to resilience but stop short of causal claims and do not support routine APOE screening.