Research highlights the importance of educational attainment for better brain health
A Finnish double study suggests that the debilitating effects of cardiovascular risk factors on late-aged cognition are stronger than those with higher education.
As the population ages and life expectancy increases, the number of people with dementia increases. For a more effective prevention of dementia, it is important to better understand the risk and protective factors that affect cognition in late age. It is known that cardiovascular risk factors in middle age are associated with poorer end-of-life cognition (memory and other computing skills). A new study by the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku sought to find out whether the educational background affects this association. More than 4,000 Finnish twins participated in the study, which was published in Age and aging.
The study showed that risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high body mass index, and physical inactivity, were associated with poorer end-of-life cognition. This link was stronger among those with a lower level of education than those with a higher education. “
Paula Iso-Markku, lead author of the research, postdoctoral researcher, University of Helsinki
The result highlights the importance of childhood and youth education in dementia prevention.
“The mechanisms are not yet known, but these results may reflect the effect of cognitive charge. A higher level of education may increase cognitive wealth, which helps to better tolerate the risk factors for dementia,” says Eero Vuoksimaa, a researcher at the Academy of Finland.
The design of the duplicate study allowed the study of genetic and common environmental effects in these associations. A shared environment refers to all the environmental factors that make children in the same family similar, such as socio-economic background and living environment, such as eating and exercise habits.
Higher levels of education were associated with better late-age cognition in twins with a similar cardiovascular risk burden. In contrast, in twins with a similar educational background, cardiovascular risk factors were not associated with late cognition. The results suggest that the link between education and end-of-life cognition is independent of genetics and the common environment, but the link between middle-aged cardiovascular risk factors and end-of-life cognition is rather explained by common environmental and genetic effects.
“The research results do not mean that healthy lifestyles are not important in the prevention of dementias, but emphasize the importance of family effects in promoting healthy lifestyles and emphasize the importance of education in the prevention of dementia,” explains Paula Iso-Markku.
The study population was an older Finnish Twin Cohort study from the University of Helsinki. Participants responded to surveys on educational attainment and cardiovascular risk factors in 1975, 1981, and 1990 (average 46-year-olds and 31-59-year-olds in total). In 1999–2007 and 2013–2017, participants ’cognition was assessed using two telephone screening devices. Participants were on average 73 years old at the time of the telephone interview.
Source:
Journal reference:
Iso-Markku, P., et al. (2022) Education as a Moderator of Middle-Aged Cardiovascular Risk Factors – Cognitive Relationships in Old Age: Testing the Cognitive Back-Up Hypothesis in an Epidemiological Study. Age and aging. doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afab228.