Diabetes mellitus in patients with Alzheimer's disease: clinical description and correlation with the APOE genotype in a sample population from the province of Antioquia, Colombia.

Introduction. Alzheimer's disease is a multifactorial disease affecting approximately twenty million people worldwide. Numerous variables are associated with increased risk of developing this severe neurological disorder. Among the risk factors, diabetes mellitus, and the epsilon 4 isoform of the APOE gene have been amply demonstrated as increasing the risk of developing this disease. Objective. To determine if a correlation exists between APOE genotype, diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease. Materials and methods. Clinical studies were carried out by surveying the clinical histories in a group of patients in the province of Antioquia, Colombia. Forty-three Alzheimer's patients were compared with 43 control subjects, paired by age and gender. Commercially available methods were used to determine whether the patients had diabetes, and restriction enzyme-based genotyping was used to determine the APOE genotypes. Results. The most common non-neurological comorbidities were: arterial hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypothyroidism. From the many variables investigated, two were conclusive: (1) the presence of Alzheimer's disease was higher in patients with diabetes mellitus, and (2) no correlation between late-onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease and APOE was found in the target population. Conclusions. To detect any association with the APOE genotype, a study involving much a larger population samples must be undertaken.