An international study, published in the journal Nature Medicine , challenges the widespread assumption that a higher level of education directly protects against cognitive decline and brain aging. The study analyzed longitudinal data from more than 170,000 people from 33 Western countries, making it one of the most extensive studies on cognitive aging to date. The University of Barcelona and the Guttmann Institute are the only two centers in Spain participating in the study, which is led by the University of Oslo (Norway) as part of the European Lifebrain consortium.
The findings underscore the need for policy measures and brain health promotion programs that go beyond cognitive activity and extend throughout life, not just childhood and adolescence.
Although the total number of people with dementia worldwide is increasing due to population growth and aging, the incidence appears to be decreasing according to previous studies, and older adults today have better cognitive function than 20 years ago. This trend is attributed to changing lifestyles in the population. The most widespread hypothesis to date has been that formal education could protect against neurodegeneration or normal brain aging.
However, the team found that while people with longer formal education tend to have higher cognitive levels in adulthood, their cognitive decline does not slow down with age.
Previous studies yielded conflicting results and were often limited to small samples or samples from a single country. The newly published study analyzed more than 420,000 neuropsychological tests and imaging studies from individuals from different countries and cohorts (Europeans, Americans, Asians, and Australians) using various methods, making it one of the most robust and generalizable investigations on the topic. A total of 170,795 individuals over 50 years of age participated, belonging to 27 longitudinal cohorts, with a follow-up period per participant of up to 28 years.
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Specifically, 966 individuals participated in the study in the BBHI cohort, and 161 in the UB. Participants underwent tests on memory, reasoning, processing speed, and language, and 6,472 individuals also underwent brain MRI scans to analyze parameters such as total brain volume and the volume of key memory regions (hippocampus and prefrontal cortex).
A very similar development
According to the results, a higher level of education is associated with better memory, larger intracranial volume, and slightly larger volumes of memory-sensitive brain regions. "A plausible explanation is that it is the original neurobiological characteristics of individuals that favor a higher level of education, and not the other way around," notes researcher Gabriele Cattaneo (BBHI). And all groups, regardless of their educational level, showed almost parallel cognitive decline and structural brain aging over time.
