Using linear mixed effects models, we assessed the relationship of rs393152 with longitudinal brain atrophy specifically within the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, two medial temporal lobe regions selectively affected in the earliest stages of AD. 23 These models co-varied for the effects of baseline age, sex, education, group status (healthy older control vs. MCI vs. AD), disease severity (Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Box score), and APOE ε4 carrier status. We used an additive model with major allele (A) counts coded as 0,1 2. Across all available ADNI participants, we found that the A allele of rs393152 was significantly associated with increased atrophy rates (volume loss) of the entorhinal cortex (standardized β-coefficient = −0.003, SE = 0.001, p-value = 0.0071) and hippocampus (standardized β-coefficient = −0.003, SE = 0.001, p-value = 0.0031).
