A group of researchers found that people with a higher educational level do not experience a slower cognitive impairment when aging compared to others with less studies.
They are the conclusions of a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, led by the University of Oslo (Norway) in the framework of the Lifebrain European Consortium and in which the Guttmann Institute and the University of Barcelona (UB), in Spain, participated in Spain.
“Before it was thought that education protected you in aging and that the trajectories were separated: those that had no educational level had a greater cognitive impairment than those who did. But what we have seen in the study is that this is not so,” explained the research director of the Guttmann Institute, Javier Solana.
Thus, scientists verified that “education gives an advantage of an advantage, because the person starts with a higher cognitive reserve, but ends up having cognitive impairment also; the trajectories are parallel and ends up developing deterioration both the one that comes from minor levels of education and the one that comes from superiors,” he added.
The work, entitled “Reevaluation of the role of education in cognitive deterioration and cerebral aging”, analyzed longitudinal data of more than 170,000 people from 33 Western countries, in one of the greatest studies on cognitive aging carried out to date, according to the Guttmann Institute, Barcelona Reference Center in Brain Health and Neurorrehabilitation.
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The study processed more than 420,000 neuropsychological explorations and image tests of multiple countries and cohorts – Europe, American, Asian and Australian – with different methodologies.
In total, 170,795 people over 50, belonging to 27 longitudinal cohorts and monitoring up to 28 years per participant participated.
Specifically, the BBHI cohort has contributed 966 subject to the study, while the UB contributed another 161.
The participants executed memory, reasoning, processing and language tests, and 6,472 individuals also conducted cerebral magnetic resonance tests to analyze parameters such as total brain volume and the volume of key regions for memory (hippocampus and prefrontal cortex).
The results indicate that a higher educational level is associated with a better memory, a greater intracranial volume and a slightly higher volume of memory -sensitive brain regions.
However, all the analyzed groups, regardless of their studies level, showed a cognitive impairment and aging of the brain structure practically parallel over time.
Thus, a high educational level “does not protect absolutely” from cognitive impairment, but does give the person “a starting position” when it ages, according to Solana.
An approach beyond education
In this way, education from childhood is necessary, but is required at the same time of a broader approach that includes diverse interventions throughout life.
“It is not enough with a high educational level from the beginning of life, but they have to develop healthy habits, such as physical activity, nutrition, sleep or a satisfactory social network, to compensate for cognitive deterioration associated with age,” said the research director of the Guttmann Institute.
For Solana, the “stimulating” cognitive activities are useful not only of children, but throughout life, although it is important that they suppose a challenge: “If you touch the piano, continue to touch it as a greater is not a challenge for your brain, so what you have to do is learn another instrument,” he exemplified.
With EFE information
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