Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Medicine, Boston University, 72, East Concord St, Boston, MA, USA
  • 2 Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
  • 3 Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
  • 4 Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
  • 5 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
  • 6 Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
  • 7 Cardiovascular Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Diabetes Metab Res Rev, 2015 Sep;31(6):582-7.
PMID: 25656378 DOI: 10.1002/dmrr.2638

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), characterized by abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, elevated blood pressure and insulin resistance, is a major public health concern in the United States. The effects of apolipoprotein E (Apo E) polymorphism on MetS are not well established.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study consisting of 1551 participants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Family Heart Study to assess the relation of Apo E polymorphism with the prevalence of MetS. MetS was defined according to the American Heart Association-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-International Diabetes Federation-World Health Organization harmonized criteria. We used generalized estimating equations to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for prevalent MetS and the Bonferroni correction to account for multiple testing in the secondary analysis.

RESULTS: Our study population had a mean age (standard deviation) of 56.5 (11.0) years, and 49.7% had MetS. There was no association between the Apo E genotypes and the MetS. The multivariable adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval) were 1.00 (reference), 1.26 (0.31-5.21), 0.89 (0.62-1.29), 1.13 (0.61-2.10), 1.13 (0.88-1.47) and 1.87 (0.91-3.85) for the Ɛ3/Ɛ3, Ɛ2/Ɛ2, Ɛ2/Ɛ3, Ɛ2/Ɛ4, Ɛ3/Ɛ4 and Ɛ4/Ɛ4 genotypes, respectively. In a secondary analysis, Ɛ2/Ɛ3 genotype was associated with 41% lower prevalence odds of low high-density lipoprotein [multivariable adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval) = 0.59 (0.36-0.95)] compared with Ɛ3/Ɛ3 genotype.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support an association between Apo E polymorphism and MetS in a multicentre population-based study of predominantly White US men and women.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.