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Postsecondary Education and Dementia Risk in Older Jesuit Priests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

John T. Chibnall
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Robin Eastwood
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Abstract

Lack of early childhood education has been implicated as a risk factor for dementia in late life. It is unclear whether dementia risk is also associated with less education in the adult years. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether amount of postsecondary education (i.e., education beyond the high school or 12th-grade level) is associated with dementia after age 60. Cognitive function (assessed by a neuropsychological test battery) and the prevalence of dementia (assessed by clinical criteria) were determined in 86 Jesuit priests (age 60 to 98) who had from 0 to 23 years of postsecondary education. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of dementia as a function of postsecondary education. The risk of dementia was increased in those with less postsecondary education (odds ratio = 3.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 10.0) after adjustment for age, IQ, and depression. These findings support an association between amount of postsecondary education and risk of dementia in late life.

Type
Risk Factors
Copyright
© 1998 International Psychogeriatric Association

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