More School = Steeper Slide To Dementia?

(WebMD)  New research links a person's years of formal education to his or her path toward dementia.

The study's key finding: Among elders with dementia, those with higher levels of education had a delayed, but steeper, decline in memory in the years leading up to their dementia diagnosis.

"Our study showed that a person with 16 years of formal education would experience a rate of memory decline that is 50 percent faster than someone with just four years [of] education," Charles B. Hall, Ph.D., says in a news release.

"This rapid decline may be explained by how people with more education have a greater cognitive reserve, or the brain's ability to maintain function in spite of damage," says Hall.

Hall works in New York as an associate professor of epidemiology and population health at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dementia and Education

Hall's team reviewed data on 117 elders living in New York's Bronx neighborhood who developed dementia during a 27-year study.

Of the group's 21 high school graduates, seven had a college degree and some postgraduate education.

Participants got yearly checkups and took memory tests in which they had to memorize and immediately recall a list of 12 unrelated words.

The memory tests show that accelerated memory loss began 5.5 years before dementia diagnosis in typical participants, who had eight years of schooling.

Accelerated memory loss started later -- about four years before dementia diagnosis -- in elders with 16 years of education.

But when memory loss started, it happened faster in highly educated elders.

The study, published in Neurology, doesn't mean that education causes dementia.

A mix of genetic and environmental factors can affect dementia risk. Observational studies such as this one don't prove cause and effect.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[kennergirl]

Toolmanger has a point. According to the article accelerated memory loss happened 5.5 years before a dementia diagnosis with typical participants (8 years of schooling) whereas the participants with 16 years of schooling started having accelerated memory loss 4 years before a dementia diagnosis. So there is only a 1.5 year difference between onset of memory loss. What I wish the article would have noted was the age range of the participants in each group during the study.

[toolmangler-2009]

This will make the lazy idiots of the world happy like like drinking was good for the heart alcoholics loved it. How dis Raygunz fit in this equation?

Posted by crzmeat at 11:31 AM : Oct 24, 2007


I can hear them now,,, "DUH!!! Ah don''t wanna lose mah mahnd so Ah''m gonna stay stoopid!!!
See Ah''m smarter awready!!!

[Krazcarl]

This will make the lazy idiots of the world happy like like drinking was good for the heart alcoholics loved it. How dis Raygunz fit in this equation?

[toolmangler-2009]

Due to concern over the effect of education on my longevity, I have decided to discontinue my higher education and drop out of school immediately.

Posted by incog-nito at 12:59 AM : Oct 24, 2007


Don''t do that! Look at it this way, the less educated have less stored in their ''Bio-RAM'' than the more educated. Hence if you have little to lose then it won''t show up as visibly. (rebuttal?)

[oscarez]

While this study may or may not shed more light on age-related dementia, it appears to be more "Grant Mining" than valid research!!!

[myidoncbs]

Ron Paul''s mindless minions are EVERYWHERE!

What the h3ll does Ron Paul''s candidacy for president have to do with this news story? NOTHING!

In fact, if Ron Paul remains true to either his Libertarian roots or to his adopted Republican Party, he would refuse to fund ANY scientific research. That''s a VERY shortsighted approach to governing!

BTW, your claim, that "Ron Paul is the only politican republican or democrat that will stop the war! No one else will, period!" is FALSE. If elected, Dennis Kucinich would definitely end the war. Furthermore, he would invest in Peace, which is something that Ron Paul will NOT do. Bill Richardson has also strongly indicated his intent to stop the war. So, you LIED.

[myidoncbs]

SharnCedar raises an interesting point: some "scientists" are unscrupulous, for sale to the highest bidder. But that''s NOT "science"; it''s fraud. (For example, the "scientists" who are paid by the oil companies to say that global warming isn''t real are frauds.)

Your negative attitude towards science and scientists in general indicates that you really have NO understanding of science. Even the one study described in this article is useful. It demonstrates that education level affects the rate of progession of dementia. By further studying that relationship, someone may eventually discover exactly what causes dementia, and eventually someone may discover a cure.

Science usually progresses in these small steps. Discard the small steps and you end up with no science at all. Then where would we be? Certainly, without any hope for a cure!

[sharncedar]

spambot says: Why Don''''t You Know Ron Paul??????

I do, he was in the stall next to me at the airport. Tapping Ronnie Paul. He touched my foot. I left a little present on his hand. Tap, tap, tap, tappin'' Ronnie Paul.

[sharncedar]

So, each and every study has some value, whether or not it determines some specific "cause" or "cure".

Posted by MyIDonCBS at 09:05 PM : Oct 23, 2007

It sure does - it has plenty value for the crooked professors who rake in millions from the government. whether or not they prove anything, whether or not thet study anything interesting, whther or not they have more intellect than a box of biscuits. But man, they gots govmint grants, they gots young hot female grad students in the office late at night! woooooo - hooo its science baby!

Just keey Hypothesizing, telling lies''n, raking in the cash! wooooo - hoooh!

[myidoncbs]

Someone said this study is just "More taxpayer money down the drain."

You don''t understand how science works. You never know when the final piece of the puzzle will come to light. So, each and every study has some value, whether or not it determines some specific "cause" or "cure".

Observational studies provide evidence that something should be further studied, with more rigorous controls.

Observe. Hypothesize. Test. (Repeat)