The effects of age, gender, education, and APOE on the transitions from a cognitively normal state to mild cognitive impairment and dementia

To determine the effects of a number of risk factors on the transition from a cognitively normal state to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as transient states, and then to dementia and death, as absorbing states. The study used the data of 8,456 subjects obtained from the Uniform Data Set (UDS) conducted by the National Alzheimer Coordinating Center (NACC), and categorized them into four cognitive states; normal and MCI (transient states), dementia, and death (absorbing states). Then, statistical analysis was conducted to obtain how age, gender, educational attainment, and presence of apolipoprotein 4 allele (APOE) affect the odds of transitioning from one cognitive state to another, and to death as a competing state. Both age and APOE risk had profound effects on the cognitive transition of subjects from one state to another, and to a lesser extent, gender and education attainment. This study has contributed more evidence that risk factors like age, presence of apolipoprotein 4 allele (APOE), and to a lesser extent, education and gender have significant effects in all or some of the transitions from one cognitive state to another among elderly people. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.