Association between polygenic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, brain structure and cognitive abilities in UK Biobank

Previous studies testing associations between polygenic risk for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD-PGR) and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures have been limited by small samples and inconsistent consideration of potential confounders. This study investigates whether higher LOAD-PGR is associated with differences in structural brain imaging and cognitive values in a relatively large sample of non-demented, generally healthy adults (UK Biobank). Summary statistics were used to create PGR scores for n = 32,790 participants using LDpred. Outcomes included 12 structural MRI volumes and 6 concurrent cognitive measures. Models were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, genotyping chip, 8 genetic principal components, lifetime smoking, apolipoprotein (APOE) e4 genotype and socioeconomic deprivation. We tested for statistical interactions between APOE e4 allele dose and LOAD-PGR vs. all outcomes. In fully adjusted models, LOAD-PGR was associated with worse fluid intelligence (standardised beta [β] = −0.080 per LOAD-PGR standard deviation, p = 0.002), matrix completion (β = −0.102, p = 0.003), smaller left hippocampal total (β = −0.118, p = 0.002) and body (β = −0.069, p = 0.002) volumes, but not other hippocampal subdivisions. There were no significant APOE x LOAD-PGR score interactions for any outcomes in fully adjusted models. This is the largest study to date investigating LOAD-PGR and non-demented structural brain MRI and cognition phenotypes. LOAD-PGR was associated with smaller hippocampal volumes and aspects of cognitive ability in healthy adults and could supplement APOE status in risk stratification of cognitive impairment/LOAD.