Educational attainment does not influence brain aging

Lars Nyberg, Fredrik Magnussen, Anders Lundquist, William Baaré, David Bartrés-Faz, Lars Bertram, C J Boraxbekk, Andreas M Brandmaier, Christian A Drevon, Klaus Ebmeier, Paolo Ghisletta, Richard N Henson, Carme Junqué, Rogier Kievit, Maike Kleemeyer, Ethan Knights, Simone Kühn, Ulman Lindenberger, Brenda W J H Penninx, Sara Pudas, Øystein Sørensen, Lídia Vaqué-Alcázar, Kristine B Walhovd, Anders M Fjell, Lars Nyberg, Fredrik Magnussen, Anders Lundquist, William Baaré, David Bartrés-Faz, Lars Bertram, C J Boraxbekk, Andreas M Brandmaier, Christian A Drevon, Klaus Ebmeier, Paolo Ghisletta, Richard N Henson, Carme Junqué, Rogier Kievit, Maike Kleemeyer, Ethan Knights, Simone Kühn, Ulman Lindenberger, Brenda W J H Penninx, Sara Pudas, Øystein Sørensen, Lídia Vaqué-Alcázar, Kristine B Walhovd, Anders M Fjell

Abstract

Education has been related to various advantageous lifetime outcomes. Here, using longitudinal structural MRI data (4,422 observations), we tested the influential hypothesis that higher education translates into slower rates of brain aging. Cross-sectionally, education was modestly associated with regional cortical volume. However, despite marked mean atrophy in the cortex and hippocampus, education did not influence rates of change. The results were replicated across two independent samples. Our findings challenge the view that higher education slows brain aging.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01634841.

Keywords: aging; cerebral cortex; education; hippocampus; reserve.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Longitudinal education—brain-aging relations in LB. (A) Marked individual differences in education in all age groups. (B) Cortical regions showing more volume loss with increasing age, i.e., nonlinear age changes (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons; see SI Appendix). (C) Education was not related to rate of change in the atrophy-prone cortical regions in B. (D) There was significant hippocampus volume loss but no influence of education on rate of change. Education groups in C and D are based on a median split (indicated by the dashed line in A and used for illustrative purposes). The shaded areas around the lines denote 95% CI.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Longitudinal education—brain-aging relations in UKB. (A) Cortical regions showing more volume loss with increasing age (P < 0.05, corrected). (B) Education was not related to rate of change in the atrophy-prone cortical regions in A. (C) There was significant hippocampus volume loss but no influence of education on rate of change. (D) Cross-sectional education—brain-volume relations in LB and UKB (P < 0.05, corrected). (E) In the regions in D where a cross-sectional effect of education was seen in both LB and UKB (yellow), no differences in longitudinal rate of change were seen in relation to education in LB or UKB (red, low education; blue, high education). The shaded areas around the lines denote 95% CI.

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