Higher education is linked to lower Alzheimer pathology in women

In an autopsy cohort of 2,592 older adults from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, higher education was associated with lower Alzheimer's disease neuropathology in women but not in men, according to a preprint. Among 1,188 female participants, more years of formal education were associated with lower Thal amyloid phase, diffuse plaques, neuritic plaques, and Braak stage. These associations were not statistically significant among male participants, and education-by-sex interactions supported differences for amyloid phase and plaque burden. Education was not directly linked to final Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes scores in either sex. However, higher education was linked to a weaker association between Braak stage and cognitive scores in females than in males. In longitudinal analyses of 1,969 participants, higher education was linked to nonlinear cognitive trajectories in both sexes, with slower earlier decline followed by later acceleration.