Browsing by Subject "geeni-ympäristö interaktio"

Background: Development of cognitive abilities involves both environmental and genetic factors. Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) associates with cognitive abilities later in life; however there is only little research on the interaction of SES and genes on cognitive ability. Specific genomic loci associating with cognitive abilities are scarce and potential candidates might be genetic variants linked with Alzheimer's disease such as APOE ε4 isomorph and rs405509 located in the APOE promoter region. I studied how childhood SES and APOE ε4 and rs405509 and their interactions associate with cognitive abilities in late adulthood in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (HBCS) sample. Methods: The participants of this study consisted of 607 men belonging to the HBCS who were born in Helsinki, Finland between 1934 and 1944. They participated in the test for general cognitive abilities at the average age of 68, and who were successfully genotyped. Associations and interactions of childhood SES, APOE and rs405509 on cognitive ability were studied. Results and conclusions: Lower childhood SES associated with lower verbal subscale score and total score. APOE ε4 was not independently associated with cognitive abilities. The number of G-alleles in rs405509 associated with lower verbal subscale score and total score when adjusted for age, but no longer after adjusting for adulthood SES. Interactions of rs405509 and childhood SES were not associated with cognitive ability. Socioeconomically less advantaged childhood environment has long-term consequences on cognitive abilities, and the effects last until late adulthood. The study suggests that rs405509 G-allele might have an independent effect on cognitive ability before the outset of Alzheimer's disease, but the results require further replication with larger sample size.