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Published on: January 2, 2012
Effects of education on aging-related cortical thinning among cognitively normal individuals
Jun Pyo Kim1, Sang Won Seo2, Hee Young Shin1
1From the Departments of Neurology (J.P.K., S.W.S., H.J.K., J.-H.K., D.L.N.) and Radiology (S.T.K.), and Health Promotion Center (H.Y.S., M.K.), Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul; Neuroscience Center (S.W.S., H.J.K.), Samsung Medical Center, Seoul; Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation (S.W.S., J.-M.L.), SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul; Departments of Neurology (B.S.Y.) and Preventive Medicine (C.K.), Yonsei University College of Medicine Seoul; Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital (H.C.), Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul; Department of Biomedical Engineering (J.-J.Y., S.J.), Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea; and Departments of Epidemiology and Medicine and Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research (E.G.), Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
Objectives:
We aimed to investigate the relationship between education and cortical thickness in cognitively normal individuals to determine whether education attenuated the association of advanced aging and cortical thinning.
Methods:
A total of 1,959 participants, in whom education levels were available, were included in the final analysis. Cortical thickness was measured on high-resolution MRIs using a surface-based method. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed for education level and cortical thickness, after controlling for possible confounders.
Results:
High levels of education were correlated with increased mean cortical thickness throughout the entire cortex (p = 0.003). This association persisted after controlling for vascular risk factors. Statistical maps of cortical thickness showed that the high levels of education were correlated with increased cortical thickness in the bilateral premotor areas, anterior cingulate cortices, perisylvian areas, right superior parietal lobule, left lingual gyrus, and occipital pole. There were also interactive effects of age and education on the mean cortical thickness (p = 0.019).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest the protective effect of education on cortical thinning in cognitively normal older individuals, regardless of vascular risk factors. This effect was found only in the older participants, suggesting that the protective effects of education on cortical thickness might be achieved by increased resistance to structural loss from aging rather than by simply providing a fixed advantage in the brain.
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