Education does not slow cognitive decline with aging: 12-year evidence from the victoria longitudinal study

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society

Volumn 17, Issue 6, 2011, Pages 1039-1046

  Zahodne, Laura B ^a   Glymour, M Maria ^b   Sparks, Catharine ^c   Bontempo, Daniel ^d   Dixon, Roger A ^e   MacDonald, Stuart W S ^c   Manly, Jennifer J ^f  

^a UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA   (United States)

^b HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA   (Canada)

^d UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

^f NewYork Presbyterian Hospital   (United States)

Author keywords

Cognitive reserve; Language; Memory; Mental recall; Reaction time; Short term

Indexed keywords

EID: 80455145031     PISSN: 13556177     EISSN: 14697661     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617711001044     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Albert, M.S., Jones, K., Savage, C.R., Berkman, L., Seeman, T., Blazer, D., & Rowe, J.W. (1995). Predictors of cognitive change in older persons: MacArthur studies of successful aging. Psychology and Aging, 10, 578-589.
2. Alley, D., Suthers, K., & Crimmins, E. (2007). Education and cognitive decline in older Americans: Results from the AHEAD Sample. Research on Aging, 29(1), 73-94.
3. Andel, R., Vigen, C., Mack, W.J., Clark, L., & Gatz, M. (2006). The effect of education and occupational complexity on rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 147-152.
4. Anstey, K., & Christensen, H. (2000). Education, activity, health, blood pressure and apolipoprotein E as predictors of cognitive change in old age: A review. Gerontology, 46(3), 163-177.
5. Arbuckle, T.Y., Maag, U., Pushkar, D., & Chaikelson, J.S. (1998). Individual differences in trajectory of intellectual development over 45 years of adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 13, 663-675.
6. Baddeley, A.D., Logie, R., Nimmo-Smith, I., &Brereton, N. (1985). Components of fluent reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 119-131.
7. Baltes, P.B., Cornelius, S.W., & Nesselroade, J.R. (1979). Cohort effects in developmental psychology. In J.R. Nesselroade & P.B. Baltes (Eds.), Longitudinal research in the study of behavior and development (pp. 61-87). New York: Academic Press.
8. Bosma, H., van Boxtel, M.P., Ponds, R.W., Houx, P.J., Burdorf, A., & Jolles, J. (2003). Mental work demands protect against cognitive impairment: MAAS prospective cohort study. Experimental Aging Research, 29, 33-45.
9. Brayne, C., & Calloway, P. (1990). The association of education and socioeconomic status with the Mini Mental State Examination and the clinical diagnosis of dementia in elderly people. Age & Ageing, 19(2), 91-96.
10. Butler, S.M., Ashford, J.W., & Snowdon, D.A. (1996). Age, education, and changes in the Mini-Mental State Exam scores of older women: Findings from the Nun Study. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 44, 675-681.
11. Christensen, H., Hofer, S.M., MacKinnon, A.J., Korten, A.E., Jorm, A.F., & Henderson, A.S. (2001). Age is no kinder to the better educated: Absence of an association investigated using latent growth techniques in a community sample. Psychological Medicine, 31(1), 15-28.
12. Christensen, H., Korten, A.E., Jorn, A.F., Henderson, A.S., Jacomb, P.A., Rodgers, B., & Mackinnon, A.J. (1997). Education and decline in cognitive performance: Compensatory but not protective. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12, 323-330.
13. De Ronchi, D., Fratiglioni, L., Rucci, P., Paternico, A., Graziani, S., & Dalmonte, E. (1998). The effect of education on dementia occurrence in an Italian population with middle to high socioeconomic status. Neurology, 50(5), 1231-1238.
14. Dixon, R.A., & De Frias, C.M. (2004). The Victoria Longitudinal Study: From characterizing cognitive aging to illustrating changes in memory compensation. Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition, 11, 346-376.
15. Dixon, R.A., Wahlin,Å., Maitland, S.B., Hultsch, D.F., Hertzog, C., & Bäckman, L. (2004). Episodic memory change in late adulthood: Generalizability across samples and performance indices. Memory & Cognition, 32, 768-778.
16. Dugravot, A., Guéguen, A., Kivimaki, M., Vahtera, J., Shipley, M., Marmot, M.G., & Singh-Manoux, A. (2009). Socioeconomic position and cognitive decline using data from two waves: What is the role of the wave 1 cognitive measure? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63, 675-680.
17. Ekstrom, R.B., French, J.W., Harman, H.H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
18. Evans, D.A., Becket, L.A., Albert, M.S., Hebert, L.E., Scher, P.A., Funkenstein, H.H., & Taylor, J.O. (1993). Level of education and change in cognitive function in a community population of older persons. Annals of Epidemiology, 3, 71-77.
19. Evans, D.A., Hebert, L.E., Becket, L.A., Scher, P.A., Albert, M.S., Chown, M.J.,Taylor, J.O. (1997). Education and other measures of socioeconomic status and risk of incident Alzheimer disease in a defined population of older persons. Archives of Neurology, 54(11), 1399-1405.
20. Farmer, M.E., Kittner, S.J., Rae, D.S., Bartko, J.J., & Regier, D.A. (1995). Education and change in cognitive function. The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. Annals of Epidemiology, 5, 1-7.
21. Fratiglioni, L., Grut, M., Forsel, Y., Viitanen, M., Grafstrom, M., Holmen, K.,Winblad, B. (1991). Prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in an elderly urban population: Relationship with age, sex, and education. Neurology, 41(12), 1886-1892.
22. Gatz, M., Svedberg, P., Pedersen, N.L., Mortimer, J.A., Berg, S., & Johansson, B. (2001). Education and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: Findings from the study of dementia in Swedish twins. Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 56(5), 292-300.
23. Glymour, M.M., Weuve, J., Berkman, L.F., Kawachi, I., & Robins, J.M. (2005). When is baseline adjustment useful in analyses of change? An example with education and cognitive change. American Journal of Epidemiology, 162(3), 267-278.
24. Hertzog, C., Dixon, R.A., Hultsch, D.F., & MacDonald, S.W. (2003). Latent change models of adult cognition: Are changes in processing speed and working memory associated with changes in episodic memory? Psychology and Aging, 18, 755-769.
25. Hultsch, D.F., Hertzog, C., Dixon, R.A.,& Smal, B.J. (1998).Memory change in the aged. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
26. Karlamangla, A.S., Miller-Martinez, D., Aneshensel, C.S., Seeman, T.E., Wight, R.G., & Chodosh, J. (2009). Trajectories of cognitive function in late life in the United States: Demographic and socioeconomic predictors. American Journal of Epidemiology, 170(3), 331-342.
27. Katzman, R. (1993). Education and the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 43(1), 13-20.
28. Launer, L.J., Dinkgreve, M.A., Jonker, C.,Hooijer, C.,& Lindeboom, J. (1993). Are age and education independent correlates of the Mini-Mental State Exam performance of community-dwelling elderly? Journal of Gerontology, 48(6), 271-277.
29. Lyketsos, C.G., Chen, L.S., & Anthony, J.C. (1999). Cognitive decline in adulthood: An 11.5-year follow-up of the Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 58-65.
30. Mortel, K.F., Meyer, J.S., Herod, B., & Thornby, J. (1995). Education and occupation as risk factors for dementias of the Alzheimer and ischemic vascular types. Dementia, 6(1), 55-62.
31. Palmer, J., MacLeod, C.M., Hunt, E., & Davidson, J.E. (1985). Information processing correlates of reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 59-88.
32. Prencipe, M., Casini, A.R., Ferretti, C., Lattanzio, M.T., Fiorelli, M., & Culasso, F. (1996). Prevalence of dementia in an elderly rural population: Effects of age, sex, and education. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, 60(6), 628-633.
33. Raiha, I., Kaprio, J., Koskenvuo, M., Rajala, T., & Sourander, L. (1998). Environmental differences in twin pairs discordant for Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry, 65(5), 785-787.
34. Reuter-Lorenz, P.A., & Mikels, J.A. (2006). The aging mind and brain: Implications of enduring plasticity for behavioral and cultural change. In P.B. Baltes, P.A. Reuter-Lorenz, & F. Rösler, (Eds.), Lifespan development and the brain: The perspective of biocultural co-constructivism. (pp. 255-276). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35. Salthouse, T.A., & Babcock, R.L. (1991). Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 763-776.
36. Scarmeas, N., & Stern, Y. (2004). Cognitive reserve: Implications for diagnosis and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 4, 374-380.
37. Schafer, J. (1997). Analysis of incomplete multivariate data. New York: Chapman & Hall.
38. Schafer, J.L., & Graham, J.W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147-177.
39. Small, B.J., Dixon, R.A., McArdle, J.J., & Grimm, K.J. (under review). Dynamic longitudinal analyses of lifestyle activities and cognition relationships in aging.
40. Stern, Y. (2002). What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Association, 8, 448-460.
41. Stern, Y. (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2015-2028.
42. Stern, Y. (Ed.). (2007). Cognitive reserve: Theory and application. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
43. Stern, Y., Albert, S., Tang, M.X., & Tsai, W.Y. (1999). Rate of memory decline in AD is related to education and occupation: Cognitive reserve? Neurology, 53, 1942-1947.
44. Stern, Y., Alexander, G.E., Prohovnik, I., & Mayeux, R. (1992). Inverse relationship between education and parietotemporal perfusion deficit in Alzheimer's disease. Annals of Neurology, 32, 371-375.
45. Stern, Y., Gurland, B., Tatemichi, T.K., Tang, M.X., Wilder, D., & Mayeux, R. (1994). Influence of education and occupation on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271(13), 1004-1010.
46. Tucker-Drob, E.M., Johnson, K.E., & Jones, R.N. (2009). The cognitive reserve hypothesis: A longitudinal examination of age-associated declines in reasoning and processing speed. Developmental Psychology, 45, 431-446.
47. Van Dijk, K.R.,Van Gerven, P.W., Van Boxtel, M.P., Van der Elst, W., & Jolles, J. (2008). No protective effects of education during normal cognitive aging: Results from the 6-year follow-up of the Maastricht Aging Study. Psychology and Aging, 23(1), 119-130.
48. Wilson, R.S., Hebert, L.E., Scher, P.A., Barnes, L.L., Mendes de Leon, C.F., & Evans, D.A. (2009). Educational attainment and cognitive decline in old age. Neurology, 72, 460-465.
49. Wothke, W. (1999). Longitudinal and multi-group modeling with missing data. In T.D. Little, K.U. Schnabel, & J. Baumert (Eds.), Modeling longitudinal and multiple group data: Practical issues, applied approaches, and specific examples. Mahwan, NJ: Erlbaum.
50. Yanez, N.D., III, Kronmal, R.A., & Shemanski, L.R. (1998). The effects of measurement error in response variables and tests of association of explanatory variables in change models. Statistics in Medicine, 17, 2597-2606.