Low Educational Level Tied
to Alzheimer's Disease
Excerpt By Melissa Schorr, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people with little formal schooling are more than twice as likely as those with more education to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, according to new study findings.

``A low level of education is associated with an increased risk of developing clinical Alzheimer's disease,'' noted lead author Dr. Chengxuan Qiu of the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Previous research has suggested that a person's educational background may be a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common cause of dementia.

In their study, Qiu and colleagues followed 983 elderly patients aged 75 years and older for an average of 2.8 years. During that time, 147 patients were diagnosed with dementia, including 109 with Alzheimer's disease.

The study participants were classified by whether they had less than 8 years of schooling (elementary school), 8 to 10 years of education (high school level) or 11 years or more of schooling (university level).

The report, published in the December issue of the Archives of Neurology, indicates that patients with less than 8 years of schooling or vocational training had more than twice the risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and a 70% greater chance of being diagnosed with dementia.

While there was no difference in risk of dementia between those who had obtained a high school or a college-level education, the association between Alzheimer's and education was somewhat stronger in women than in men.

The researchers note that one possible explanation for the association is that those with higher educational levels may have a higher standard of living, with a healthier lifestyle and less exposure to toxins that could lead to neurological damage.

Another possible explanation is that those with more education are better able to cope with or even ward off the pathological changes in the brain associated with the disease.

However, while a lower educational level was associated with a greater risk for death in general, it was not found to be a risk factor for death among those with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. In fact, those with a lower level of education who developed Alzheimer's had a lower risk of mortality than those with a higher level of education who developed the disease.

``Education may influence the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease or dementia, rather than affect the underlying pathological process of the disease,'' Qiu concluded.

SOURCE: Archives of Neurology 2001;58:2034-2039.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".