Supplementary Material for: Aromatase Variants Modify Risk for Alzheimer's Disease in a Multiethnic Female Cohort

<b><i>Background/Aims:</i></b> Few studies of gene variants that affect estrogen activity investigate their association with risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in women of different ethnicities. We investigated the influence of <i>CYP19</i> polymorphisms on risk for AD in a multiethnic cohort of women, with individual ethnicity assessed by genetic population ancestry informative markers (AIMs) as well as by self-identified ethnicity. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Among 1,686 women participating in the Washington Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project, association with risk for AD was assessed for 41 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the <i>CYP19</i> gene using multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for age, presence of an <i>APOE</i> ε4 allele, years of education, and body mass index. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Risk for AD was associated with 6 SNPs in women of predominantly Caucasian AIMs-defined ancestry. Of these, 2 were also associated with decreased risk of AD in women of admixed/Hispanic AIMs ancestry. Two separate SNPs were found to be protective in women of predominantly African AIMs-based ancestry. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b><i>CYP19</i> polymorphisms affect risk for AD in women, and risk alleles vary by AIMs-defined ancestry. These effects are possibly due to linkage disequilibrium patterns or differences in the prevalence of comorbid risk factors mediating the SNP effect on risk for AD by group