The dementia-associated APOE ε4 allele is not associated with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

The present study aimed to examine whether the APOE epsilon 4 allele, associated with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and possibly with dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD), is also associated with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Two single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs429358 and rs7412, were genotyped in RBD patients (n = 480) and in controls (n = 823). APOE epsilon 4 allele frequency was 0.14 among RBD patients and 0.13 among controls (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.88-1.40, p = 0.41). APOE epsilon 4 allele frequencies were similar in those who converted to DLB (0.14) and those who converted to Parkinson's disease (0.12) or multiple system atrophy ( 0.14, p = 1.0). The APOE epsilon 4 allele is neither a risk factor for RBD nor it is associated with conversion from RBD to DLB or other synucleinopathies. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.