Adults who reach their eighties and nineties while keeping memory sharp enough to match much younger people often have a distinct profile in their APOE gene. SuperAgers, as researchers call them, carry the APOE-ε4 allele less frequently than those diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia, and the APOE-ε2 allele more often. This pattern emerged clearly from analyses of over 18,000 participants in several major cohorts. Among non-Hispanic White individuals, SuperAgers differed significantly from both dementia patients and age-matched peers with average cognitive aging. In a smaller sample of non-Hispanic Black SuperAgers, the trends pointed in the same direction: lower APOE-ε4 and somewhat elevated APOE-ε2 compared with dementia cases, although some differences versus cognitively normal controls did not meet the threshold for strong statistical significance. The results suggest APOE genotype plays a role in maintaining cognitive function late in life. Larger studies focused on Black participants would help determine whether these associations hold similarly across racial or ethnic groups.

ARTICLE

Durant A, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, et al. Evaluating the association of apolipoprotein E genotype and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers. Alzheimers Dement. 2026;22(1):e71024. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71024