Context: For the past two decades, researchers have shown that elevated levels of circulating stress hormones may negatively impact cognitive performance in older adults. As well, genetic polymorphism of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) has been found to contribute to impairment in cognitive performance in old age. To date, only one study has reported a relationship between APOE status and cortisol levels, however the relationship was only found to be significant in dementia patients, with a trend observed in healthy controls.
Objective: The goal of the present investigation was to examine the acute and long-term relationship between APOE status, cortisol secretion, and declarative memory performance in older adults.
Design: Two sample cohorts were assessed. In the first cohort, 24-h basal serum cortisol levels were obtained once a year over eight years to assess changes in basal cortisol levels over time. Declarative memory was also obtained in this group at three time-points over five years. In the second cohort, basal and stress-induced cortisol levels as well as basal declarative memory was tested.
Results: In the first cohort, E4 carriers were found to secrete higher serum cortisol levels than non-E4 carriers during the first 24-h visit (p=0.04) to the laboratory. However, this group difference did not remain over subsequent years. Furthermore, declarative memory performance over years did not significantly differ according to APOE status. In the second cohort, no significant group differences were found for basal or reactive cortisol levels (ps>0.05), and no group difference was found for acute declarative memory performance.
Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest minimal to no significant effect of APOE status on cortisol secretion or declarative memory in non-demented older adults.