Journal ArticleDOI
The effect of education on the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in the Framingham Study
TLDR
Low educational attainment was associated with increased risk of non-AD dementia, perhaps because of deleterious smoking habits and other risk factors for stroke in the least-educated individuals.Abstract:
Objective: To evaluate whether low educational attainment is a risk factor for the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer9s disease (AD) in the Framingham Study and to determine whether age at onset of dementia is earlier in persons with low educational levels. Design: A community-based cohort was studied longitudinally for the development of dementia. Diagnosis was made according to strict criteria by two neurologists and a neuropsychologist. Subtype of dementia and year at onset were determined. Incidence rates were compared in three education groups: less than grade school, less than high school, and more than equals high school. Participants: A total of 3,330 men and women aged 55 to 88 years. Results: During 17 years of follow-up, 258 incident cases of dementia, including 149 AD cases, were identified. Unadjusted incidence rates were significantly elevated (p less than 0.05) for dementia and non-AD dementia among the least educated. The age-adjusted relative risk for subjects with a grade school education or less compared with those who earned a high school diploma was 1.31 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 to 1.90) for dementia generally, 1.04 (95% CI, 0.62 to 1.74) for AD, and 1.75 (95% CI, 1.03 to 2.98) for non-AD dementia. Age at onset of dementia did not vary by educational attainment. Conclusions: After age adjustment, low educational attainment was not a significant risk factor for the incidence of dementia generally or of AD. Low educational attainment was associated with increased risk of non-AD dementia, perhaps because of deleterious smoking habits and other risk factors for stroke in the least-educated individuals. Adequately adjusting for age and examining subtypes of dementia are important in assessing the influence of education on dementia incidence. NEUROLOGY 1995;45: 1707-1712read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept.
TL;DR: This paper attempts to develop a coherent theoretical account of reserve, a distinction is suggested between reserve, the ability to optimize or maximize normal performance, and compensation, an attempt to maximize performance in the face of brain damage by using brain structures or networks not engaged when the brain is not damaged.
Journal ArticleDOI
Projections of Alzheimer's disease in the United States and the public health impact of delaying disease onset.
TL;DR: If interventions could delay onset of the disease by 2 years, after 50 years there would be nearly 2 million fewer cases than projected; if onset could be delayed by 1 year, thereWould be nearly 800,000 fewer prevalent cases.
Journal ArticleDOI
Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Prospective Analysis from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging
Joan Lindsay,Danielle Laurin,René Verreault,Réjean Hébert,Barbara E. Helliwell,Gerry Hill,Ian McDowell +6 more
TL;DR: Regular physical activity could be an important component of a preventive strategy against Alzheimer's disease and many other conditions, and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, wine consumption, coffee consumption, and regular physical activity were associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease.
Journal ArticleDOI
Participation in Cognitively Stimulating Activities and Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease
Robert S. Wilson,Carlos F. Mendes de Leon,Lisa L. Barnes,Julie A. Schneider,Julia L. Bienias,Denis A. Evans,David A. Bennett +6 more
TL;DR: Results suggest that frequent participation in cognitively stimulating activities is associated with reduced risk of AD.
Journal ArticleDOI
Estrogen Therapy in Postmenopausal Women: Effects on Cognitive Function and Dementia
TL;DR: There are plausible biological mechanisms by which estrogen might lead to improved cognition, reduced risk for dementia, or improvement in the severity of dementia, but large placebo-controlled trials are required to address estrogen's role in prevention and treatment of Alzheimer disease and other dementias.
References
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Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease : report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease
Guy M. McKhann,David A. Drachman,Marshall F. Folstein,Robert Katzman,Donald L. Price,Emanuel M. Stadlan +5 more
TL;DR: The criteria proposed are intended to serve as a guide for the diagnosis of probable, possible, and definite Alzheimer's disease; these criteria will be revised as more definitive information becomes available.
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Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions.
B. S. Everitt,Joseph L. Fleiss +1 more
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Population-based norms for the mini-mental state examination by age and educational level
TL;DR: Results presented should prove to be useful to clinicians who wish to compare an individual patient's MMSE scores with a population reference group and to researchers making plans for new studies in which cognitive status is a variable of interest.
Journal ArticleDOI
Education and the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
TL;DR: The effect of no or low education on the prevalence of dementia confirms the 1988 prediction of Mortimer2 that education would provide protection against dementia and the recent finding that a close relationship exists between neocortical synaptic density and cognitive decline in AD provides a biological stratum for the postulated “intellectual reserve.”
Journal ArticleDOI
The prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in Shanghai, China: Impact of age, gender, and education
M Y Zhang,Robert Katzman,David P. Salmon,Hua Jin,G J Cai,Z Y Wang,G Y Qu,Igor Grant,Elena Yu,Paul S. Levy +9 more
TL;DR: The findings indicate that the prevalence of dementia in Shanghai is very much higher than figures published earlier for China and Japan, and at the lower part of the range of values reported for community residents in the United States and other Western countries, but less than half of that reported in the recently published survey of the elderly in East Boston.