We are not all equal when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. According to a recent study, the stage of dementia is reached twice as quickly in poorly educated patients.
A good education delays dementia in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A study by the Inserm U897 team publishes in the April edition of the journal Brain a 20-year study. The results show a real gap in the time to reach the stage of dementia depending on whether the patient is educated or not.
442 patients participated in this study. When they joined the Paquid cohort, they did not have Alzheimer’s disease but developed it during follow-up. During the 20 years of follow-up, cognitive and clinical tests were carried out. Low-educated patients reached dementia twice as quickly as their well-educated peers. On average, it took them 7 years to be considered demented, compared to 15 in the other group.
A two-step evolution
The authors note that the course of Alzheimer’s disease also differs according to the level of education. In poorly educated patients, the first disturbances are immediately accompanied by the deterioration of overall cognitive abilities. In contrast, in more educated patients, the decline occurs in two phases. The first disturbances are subtle, and not accompanied by functional decline. Then, seven years before reaching the stage of dementia, the patient’s cognitive abilities decline. He experiences difficulties in his daily tasks and presents symptoms of depression.
According to the authors, this study shows “the protective role of education in the clinical trajectory that precedes Alzheimer’s dementia. The researchers therefore suggest that the initial decline is comparable in the two groups… but the functional decline is doubled in educated patients.
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