The ∈4 allele of apolipoprotein (apo E) is one of the risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). We evaluated the association between apo E genotypes and depression in patients with AD. A psychiatrist interviewed all patients and their caregivers for depression using a Chinese version of the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised, and for the severity of depression using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Twenty-five of the 149 patients with AD were diagnosed with depressive disorders. The numbers of patients in each apo E genotype were 10 in ∈2/3, 2 in ∈2/4, 74 in ∈3/3, 46 in ∈3/4, and 17 in ∈4/4. We did not find an association between depression and the presence or absence of the ∈4 or ∈2 allele. The HDRS scores were not different in patients with AD with the ∈4 or ∈2 allele or in those patients without them. Our study did not find an association between depression and the apo E ∈4 or ∈2 allele in AD. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2002; 15:20-23).
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