Abstract
AIMS: The present study examines cognitive function among transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) genotype groups in a sample of older adults with cardiovascular disease. METHODS: We recruited 111 older adults with diagnosed cardiovascular disease from outpatient cardiology clinics. Neuropsychological tests assessed the following domains of cognitive functioning: global function, attention/executive/psychomotor speed, learning and memory, visuospatial/construction, motor, and language. Genotyping of TCF7L2 single nucleotide polymorphism rs7903146 was conducted to determine membership in the TT, CT, or CC genotype groups. RESULTS: Controlling for diabetes status, participants with the TT genotype of TCF7L2 (n= 12) performed worse on tests of attention/executive function/processing speed than those with the CC (n= 46) and CT (n= 53) genotypes, despite no between-group differences in demographic or medical variables. CONCLUSIONS: Older cardiovascular disease patients with the TCF7L2 TT genotype performed worse on tests of attention/executive/ psychomotor speed than CC and CT genotype carriers. Further work using neuroimaging and glucose tolerance indices is needed to clarify underlying mechanisms.