New York – High levels of education speed up the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in next month’s issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
Mental agility dropped every year among Alzheimer’s disease patients with each additional year of education, leading to an additional 0.3 percent deterioration, the researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center in New York found. The speed of thought processes and memory were particularly affected.
“The amount of nerve connections and information hubs are likely to be more numerous and more efficient in people who are highly educated,” said lead author Nikolaos Scarmeas in his study. “The subsequent impact is likely to be greater than it would be in less educated brains, because of the higher levels of accumulated damage.”
The findings are based on the study of 312 New Yorkers aged 65 and older, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and monitored for more than five years.
All the patients underwent about four neurological assessments, each of which comprised a dozen separate tests of brain function.
The level of the drop-off was particularly evident in the speed of thought processes and memory, Scarmeas said. The result didn’t depend on age, mental ability at diagnosis or other factors likely to affect brain function, including depression and diseases of the blood vessels.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in people 65 and older.
