ABSTRACT
High education has been associated with faster cognitive decline after diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it is unclear whether these findings extend to other dementia subtypes.
OBJECTIVE:
We investigated whether educational attainment influences the cognitive trajectories of older adults with different dementia subtypes.
METHODS:
All participants were selected from NEDICES, a prospective population-based cohort study of Spanish older adults. A total sample of 53 individuals with dementia completed the MMSE-37 at Times 1 and 2 (mean follow-up=2.8±0.5 years) to assess cognitive decline.
RESULTS:
At follow-up, MMSE-37 scores had decreased by 3.34±4.98 points in low-educated individuals with dementia versus 7.90±4.88 points in high-educated subjects (effect size (r)=0.32, p=0.02).
CONCLUSION:
Educational level influenced the cognitive trajectories of patients with dementia assessed by the MMSE-37.
Key words:
dementia; education; cognitive decline; population-based
