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 Previous studies have linked higher education to greater cognitive
reserve, the mind's ability to optimize its performance, which might
delay or at least buffer the onset of noticeable changes in
cognitive function with age.
But there is conflicting evidence on whether education level also
influences how fast thinking skills deteriorate once they start to
go, the study team notes in Neurology. Based on nearly 3,000 older
individuals followed over time, the new research suggests that it
does not.
"Education is not a strong determinant of how cognition ages," lead
author Robert Wilson from Rush University Medical Center's
Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago told Reuters Health by email.
Wilson's team used data from 2,899 men and women participating in
two long-term U.S. studies to evaluate the contribution of education
to cognitive reserve and how steeply it declines with aging. At the
beginning of the study, participants' average age was just shy of
78. On average, members of the group had more than 16 years of
education.
All were free of dementia when they enrolled, and participants took
annual cognitive tests for an average of eight years. Brain
autopsies were performed on those who died during the study period.
Researchers found that younger age and higher level of education at
baseline were associated with a higher level of overall cognition at
the start of the study period. And women had higher baseline
cognitive functioning levels than men did.
During the years after baseline assessments, however, education was
not linked to slower rates of cognitive decline or with a later
start of cognitive decline associated with emerging dementia. If
anything, the rapid decline in cognitive function toward the end of
life seemed to begin earlier among individuals with higher levels of
education.
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The likelihood of finding evidence of strokes on autopsy studies of
the brain appeared to be lower in individuals with higher levels of
education, but higher education did not prevent the more rapid
cognitive decline associated with strokes or dementia.
"Level of education is related to the level of cognitive function at
the beginning of old age but not to changes in cognition
thereafter," Wilson said. "Better understanding of factors
contributing to cognitive reserve may suggest novel strategies for
maintenance of cognitive function in old age."
"Most surprising is the modest effect of education in this study,"
said Dr. Isabel Pavao Martins from the University of Lisbon in
Portugal, who was not involved in the study. "But this may be due to
the overall high level of education in the population sample. If you
study larger educational variations, the results may be different,"
she said by email.
"Higher education is a protective factor anyway, since those
subjects perform better all along their path," Pavao noted. "More
investigation is necessary comparing subjects with different
educational backgrounds."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2QHAYoe Neurology, online February 6, 2019.
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