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[Does education prevent dementia?]
C Aurich1, S G Riedel-Heller, T Becker
1Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie der Universität Leipzig.
Purpose:
The association of education and the risk of developing dementia are reviewed. Proposed underlying mechanisms are discussed with the particular reference to social aspects.
Methods:
The discussion is based on recent work published on the association of education and dementia risk dealing with incident cases.
Results:
Strength and consistency of the association as well as the partly established dose response relationship indicate that higher education is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. This had been explained as a consequence of a greater "brain reserve capacity", which might be constituted by different mechanisms in early periods of CNS-development and during adulthood.
Conclusions:
Education rather compensates neuro-degenerative changes than protects from dementia. Clinical signs of dementia will be delayed but not prevented. The knowledge about social aspects of this process implies the search for interventions.