Risk of Alzheimer's Disease According to APOE Genotype
Widely Available Blood Test Gives You a "Heads Up"
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Having two parents with Alzheimer’s disease has given myself and my siblings some advanced warning to evaluate and hopefully attenuate our risks of ending up in the same condition later in life. I’ve known for years that the APOE4 gene is the “Alzheimer’s gene” and have paid attention to research in this area. For reference, the normal haplotype is APOE3/E3.
I found a recent editorial in JAMA by Reiman et al very helpful:
In accordance with population-based longitudinal data from more than 10 000 persons who were initially aged 60 to 75 years and cognitively unimpaired at study entry, lifetime risk of developing MCI or dementia by age 85 years is approximately 10% to 15% for APOE4 noncarriers, 20% to 25% for heterozygotes, and 30% to 55% for homozygotes (Qian et al).8
So for all persons concerned, I order the APOE genotype blood test. Those who are APOE4/E4 I strictly advise against any further alcohol intake and refer them to Alzheimer’s prevention research centers where baseline neurocognitive function is assessed every five years and interventions can be tested. The key is to get the genetic test and act decades before the potential onset of the illness. So ask your doctor to order this test on the next visit. It only needs to be done once during your lifetime.
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Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
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Oh No Dear Doctor!!! Thank you for a backhanded reminder about fear-based medical fallacies. Of all humane beings, you are not someone I can imagine intentionally propagates the baseless belief that YOU — and your patients, and subscribing followers — or loved ones, need to succumb to genetic determinism.
It is the theoretical platform for political divides geared to acceptance or rejection of commercial and biodefense fallacies. Are we humans really just disposable lab animals based on fixed symptom biomarkers and druggable targets given the predictability of incomplete models?
Why do you write about a commitment to being an authoritative voice — and yet a medically-dependent victim of genetic determinism who buys into predetermined disease onset and progression based on one marker of disease? It’s a variable not a fixed marker, unless you think symptom associations represent health or its potential.
Your other work and leadership suggests you know that historic disease theories are not wholistic or individual health realities. I hope your co-writing a book on the history of religious culture of vaccines hasn’t admitted you to the expert class of priest of that cult.
That is to say, I am surprised your article reads like a fear-driven mistake or AI mediated hallucination. Because it celebrates (?) JAMA group-think to decidedly miss the most significant health science perspectives in principle, and proven (evidence based) long term studies in real world clinical practices
Should I laugh or cry as your post promotes one time testing to a set life course… of predictable disease models and mono-therapies that don’t consistently reverse AD (like lower cost root cause prevention and treatment protocols can).
Your MD perspective on biology is too narrow (here) for anyone’s good, except the few big owners of premium priced pharma products and testing services, those aiming to grow a $1.2 Billion market by many times over within 5-10 years.
The clown in me might ask: Did GSK sponsor you? I suspect not, because I see you as a resilient man of integrity, distinguished too by willingness if not immediate capacity to learn… beyond standard horizons fragmenting professional expertise… in theory (of course)?
Many of us understand the fear, and sadness from losing so many friends and family to AD despite expensive drug protocols. We try our best. And pros are conditioned to seek quick fixes like ideas about theoretical disease predictability. It is the flywheel of Big Pharma Big Investor profits.
But you, me and many of your followers know that we are all potentially more alive and better than that. That is, as long as we have free and informed choice, the desire to learn and ability to adapt.
I have always respected you as a leader in open science and open minded learning. So this article seems out of place, misplaced and mistaken.
May I speak to you briefly sometime, please, about epigenetic self-regulation?
May I suggest with respect that your most loyal readers stop, think and defer from following your prescriptive one-and-done testing protocol?
I am in the EU. Some time ago, I asked my doctor to include a Vitamin D level in my blood test. He was surprised, but did it. Next, I asked for a HOMA-IR test…..they do NOT perform this in my country…no lab, and even the diabetes foundation here indicates that this is not done. I can only imagine my doctor’s response when I ask for an APOE test.