More Education May Slow Start of Early-Onset Alzheimer's

A new study in Neurology suggests that higher levels of education might decelerate early-onset Alzheimer's disease by slowing development of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, according to U.S. News & World Report . The researchers examined a group of 106 people, average age 67, and a parent diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Among this cohort, 39 percent carried the APOE4 gene mutation associated with Alzheimer's. In a second cohort of 117 people, average age 35, 31 percent had the mutation. Both groups had 15 years of education on average, and higher levels of education were connected to fewer amyloid plaques in the brain among people with familial early-onset Alzheimer's. In both cohorts, people with less than a decade of education had about twice as many amyloid plaques, versus those with more than 16 years of education. "While it has been believed that people with familial Alzheimer's disease, with its strong genetic causes, may have few ways to slow development of the disease, our study shows that education may be somewhat protective, perhaps promoting brain resistance against these plaques, just as it has been shown to be in people with unknown causes of the disease," concluded McGill University's Sylvia Villeneuve.