Alzheimer’s Memory Loss Faster Among Well-Educated
“A person with 16 years of schooling might experience memory decline 50 percent more quickly than another person with just four years education.”
Studies have shown that the amount of formal education individuals have can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.
A recent study, published in the journal Neurology, suggests that once memory loss has begun, the rate of loss increases among those with more education.
According to an article published by Reuters, “every year of education delayed the accelerated memory decline that precedes dementia by about 2-1/2 months, according to the researchers at Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. But once this memory loss began, the rate of decline unfolded 4 percent more quickly for each additional year of education.”
In other words, according to this study, “a person with 16 years of schooling might experience memory decline 50 percent more quickly than another person with just four years education.”
Researches do point out that people with higher educations also have higher “cognitive reserve,” the ability for the brain to continue working despite damage. This might lead those individuals to have delayed diagnosis since their “cognitive reserve” masked the damage.
According to the article, Charles Hall, a professor of epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who led the study, said “the study was valuable in part because it examined memory loss before a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Other studies have detected quicker memory loss among more highly educated people after diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.”
Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease, first discovered in 1906 by German physician Alois Alzheimer. According to the Alzheimer’s Association there are more than 5 million Americans now have Alzheimer’s disease.
If you’d like to learn more about caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia or other related disease, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America can answer your questions and provide advice on AGIS.
Related AGIS articles:
Alzheimer’s Disease
Home Safety for People with Alzheimer’s Disease
Caregiver Guide: Tips for Caregivers of People with Alzheimer’s Disease
Filed under: Alzheimer's
thats because they have less knowledge to loose.
For anyone who remembers the story “Flowers for Algernon” this is quite interesting news.
I’m quitting my PhD program right now….
Alzheimer
There is growing evidence that a long recognized age-related elevation of the 2 hour blood sugar level may be the earliest clinical manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease, appearing many years prior to the dementia. This implies potentially a great opportunity for intervention in the basic disease process for many years beginning at the earliest stages. Any theorey of pathogenesis must account for the fact that the cell death and tissue atrophy involves the liver and the heart as well as the brain.
While this article is quite interesting it would seem common knowledge states that the more simple the mind the less there is to lose. However, I don’t think one year of grad school is really going to make that big of a difference to ones memory loss.