Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2001 Nov-Dec;16(6):369-76.
doi: 10.1177/153331750101600606.

Effects of educational attainment on the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease: results from a research registry

T Fritsch  1 , M J McClendon, K A Smyth, A J Lerner, C H Chen, G J Petot, S M Debanne, A Soas, R P Friedland
Affiliations

Effects of educational attainment on the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease: results from a research registry

T Fritsch et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2001 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

The "reserve" hypothesis suggests that education should affect the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but results from studies examining this idea are not consistent. In a single study, we evaluated the effects of educational attainment on three aspects of the clinical expression of AD: age at symptom onset, rate of cognitive decline, and survival. Subjects were 258 persons with mild- or moderate-stage Alzheimer's, drawn from our AD Research Registry. With statistical adjustment for confounding variables present in a clinic-based design, we found that higher educational attainment was associated with slightly earlier reports of symptom onset and a slower rate of cognitive decline on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE). Education did not affect time of survival until death. We conclude that, for subjects in our sample, education had modest effects on aspects of the clinical expression of AD. These effects were not fully consistent with predictions derived from the "reserve" hypothesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Katzman R : Education and the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 1993; 43: 13-20. - PubMed
    1. Mortimer JA : Brain reserve and the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease. Geriatrics. 1997; 52: S50-S53. - PubMed
    1. Mortimer JA , Graves AB: Education and other socioeconomic determinants of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 1993; 43: S39-S44. - PubMed
    1. Mortimer JA : Do psychosocial risk factors contribute to Alzheimer's disease? In Henderson AS, Henderson JH (eds.): Etiology of Dementia of Alzheimer's Type. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1988: 39-52.
    1. Satz P : Brain reserve capacity on symptom onset after brain injury: A formulation and review of evidence for threshold theory. Neuropsychology. 1993; 7: 273-295.

Publication types