A study has found only ‘weak’ evidence that education can help protect memory function in older age.
The European-wide study was published in Neuroepidemiology.
Authors Dr Dorina Cadar, of University College London, UK, and colleagues explain: "Cognitive reserve was postulated to explain individual differences in susceptibility to ageing, offering apparent protection to those with higher education."
They investigated the link between education and change in memory by following more than 10,000 people aged 65 years and older living in ten European countries, for eight years. Education was used as a marker of cognitive reserve.
Income, general health, smoking, body mass index, sex, and baseline age were taken into account in the analysis.
The team report: "In most countries, more educated individuals performed better on both memory tests at baseline, compared to those less educated. However, education was not protective against faster decline, except for in Spain for both immediate and delayed recall, and Switzerland for immediate recall."
They add that highly educated Italian participants actually had slightly faster declines in immediate recall.
"We found weak evidence of a protective effect of education on memory change in most European samples, although there was a positive association with memory performance at individuals’ baseline assessment," they write.
Dr Cadar says: "At a country level, variation in cognitive performance has rarely been investigated in healthy European older individuals. Despite significant differences in educational systems across countries, education remains a strong indicator of cognitive function in later life, but this study shows we are less clear on whether education can stop the declines in cognition that come naturally with ageing.
Co-author Dr Graciela Muniz-Terrera said: "Education showed a potential protective effect on memory in individuals aged 65 and older, but not on the rate of memory decline at ages when people start to exhibit accelerated signs of cognitive decline."
Cadar et al. An international evaluation of cognitive reserve and memory changes in early old age, in ten European countries. Neuroepidemiology 21 February 2017; doi: 10.1159/000452276 [abstract]
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