Abstract
In a community population of persons over the age of 65, cognitive function was assessed using brief performance tests on two occasions 3 years apart. Those with fewer years of formal education consistently had greater declines in cognitive function, independently of age, birthplace, language of interview, occupation, and income. These prospective findings suggest that low educational attainment or a correlate predicts cognitive decline. It is not clear, however, whether this relation represents a direct effect of education on future cognition, whether education might be related to occurrence of a disease leading to cognitive decline in older persons, or whether education might be a surrogate for some variable not included in the study.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 71-77 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Annals of epidemiology |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1993 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Cognitive function
- aging
- community studies
- education
- longitudinal studies
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology