Fig. 2: Covariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression survival function, by verbal-numerical reasoning ‘poor/average/good’ status, apolipoprotein e4 genotype and incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Adjusted for age at time of assessment, sex, Townsend deprivation index, 10 genetic principal components for stratification, university/college degree versus not, ever-smoking history, genotypic array and history of coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. ‘Good’ is >1 SD above the mean; ‘poor’ is ≤1 SD below the mean, and ‘average’ is intermediate. The Y-axis represents the relative probability of remaining disease-free.