Affiliations: [a] Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA | [b] Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA | [c] Alzheimer's Diseases Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA | [d] Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Wm. S. Middleton Memorial VA Hospital, Madison, WI, USA
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Corinne D. Engelman, MSPH, PhD, 610 Walnut Street, 1007A WARF, Madison, WI 53726-2397, USA. Tel.: +1 608 265 5491; Fax: +1 608 263 2820; E-mail: cengelman@wisc.edu.
Abstract: Cognitive decline is one of the hallmark features of Alzheimer's disease, but many studies struggle to find strong associations between cognitive function and genetic variants. In order to identify which aspects of cognition are more likely to have a strong genetic component, we assessed the heritability of various cognitive functions related to Alzheimer's disease in 303 initially asymptomatic middle-aged adult siblings with a parental history of Alzheimer's disease from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. Participants underwent extensive cognitive testing, and six cognitive factors were identified via factor analysis. Working Memory and Visual Learning & Memory had the highest heritability (52% and 41%, respectively). Inclusion of APOE allele counts did not notably change heritability estimates, indicating that there are likely additional genetic variants contributing to cognition. These findings suggest that future genetic studies should focus on the cognitive domains of Working Memory and Visual Learning & Memory.
