Education and Cognitive Change over 15 Years: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Overview

Journal J Am Geriatr Soc

Specialty Geriatrics

Date 2012 Sep 28

PMID 23013064

Citations 25

Authors

Andrea L C Schneider

A Richey Sharrett

Mehul D Patel

Alvaro Alonso

Josef Coresh

Thomas Mosley

Ola Selnes

Elizabeth Selvin

Rebecca F Gottesman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate whether education level is associated with change in cognitive performance.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, a community-based cohort.

Participants: Nine thousand two hundred sixty-eight ARIC participants who underwent cognitive evaluation at least twice over a 15-year period.

Measurements: Education was evaluated as a predictor of change in word recall, the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and word fluency. A random-effects linear regression model, and a time by educational level interaction was used.

Results: Educational level was highly associated with cognitive performance. The effect on performance of a less than high school education (vs more than high school) was equivalent to the effect of as much as 22 years of cognitive aging, but educational level was not associated with change in cognitive performance in whites or blacks, with the exception of the DSST for whites, in whom those with lower levels of education had less decline in scores.

Conclusion: Educational level was not associated with change in cognitive performance, although the higher baseline cognitive performance of individuals with more education might explain lower rates of dementia in more-educated individuals, because more decline would have to take place between baseline higher performance and time at which dementia was diagnosed in more-educated individuals.

Citing Articles

Occupation, Retirement Age, and 20-Year Cognitive Decline: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study.

Liu A, Patel M, Gross A, Mosley T, Schneider A, Kucharska-Newton A Neuroepidemiology. 2024; 58(4):292-299.

PMID: 38387450 PMC: 11300158. DOI: 10.1159/000534791.

Timing and level of educational attainment and late-life cognition in the KHANDLE study.

Soh Y, Whitmer R, Mayeda E, Glymour M, Eng C, Peterson R Alzheimers Dement. 2023; 20(1):593-600.

PMID: 37751937 PMC: 10842991. DOI: 10.1002/alz.13475.

Discrimination and Education Quality Moderate the Association of Sleep With Cognitive Function in Older Black Adults: Results From the Einstein Aging Study.

Ji L, Zhaoyang R, Jiao J, Schade M, Bertisch S, Derby C J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022; 78(4):596-608.

PMID: 36420651 PMC: 10066742. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac183.

Reading activities compensate for low education-related cognitive deficits.

Wang Y, Wang S, Zhu W, Liang N, Zhang C, Pei Y Alzheimers Res Ther. 2022; 14(1):156.

PMID: 36242017 PMC: 9563722. DOI: 10.1186/s13195-022-01098-1.

Nine-Year Ethanol Intake Trajectories and Their Association With 15-Year Cognitive Decline Among Black and White Adults.

Love S, North K, Zeng D, Petruski-Ivleva N, Kucharska-Newton A, Palta P Am J Epidemiol. 2020; 189(8):788-800.

PMID: 31971233 PMC: 7407608. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwaa006.

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