Abstract
Background: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of
dementia. So far, little is known about the contribution of genetic polymorphisms to the
risk of VaD. Many candidate genetic polymorphisms have been examined in a large number of
studies. However, due to the conflicting results, the genetics of VaD is still behind the
shadow.
Objective: We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis on associations between
genetic polymorphisms of any gene and VaD to investigate the genetics of VaD.
Method: We sought the published studies of associations between any genetic
polymorphism and VaD and critically appraised them. We assessed the effects of genetic
models by calculating pooled odds ratios (ORs), investigating the origin of heterogeneity
by subgroup analysis, and testing the robustness by random effect model and sensitivity
analysis.
Results: 69 studies with 4,462 cases and 11,583 controls were included. We
identified APOE ɛ2/ɛ3/ɛ4 and additional
four genetic polymorphisms including MTHFR C677T, PON1 L55M, TGF-β1
+29C/T, and TNF-α −850C/T associated with VaD. Tested by random effect
model and sensitivity analysis, the pooled results show nice robustness.
Conclusions: Our comprehensive meta-analysis highlighted the genetic
contribution to sporadic VaD. Because of the small amount of data on associations between
genetic polymorphisms, except for APOE, and VaD, more studies are needed to test the
existing genetic polymorphisms and detect other related genetic variants.
