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Education does not protect cognitive function from brain pathology in the ADNI 2 cohort
Christopher E Bauer, Christopher A Brown, Brian T Gold, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Neurobiology of aging, 2019-12-05
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Educational attainment is widely accepted as a cognitive reserve variable. However, few studies have demonstrated that education statistically moderates the effects of pathology on cognition. Here, we explored this issue in a sample of 441 Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort who had AD markers (Aβ42, tau, structural brain volumes) at baseline and underwent cognitive testing at baseline and at 6-month, 12-month, and 24-month time points. An AD-related biomarker (atrophy/pathology) composite at baseline was developed using stepwise backward linear regression. Potential moderation effects of education on the relationship between AD biomarkers and cognition were explored using linear mixed models. Education was positively correlated with cognition, and biomarkers were negatively correlated with cognition, across domains and diagnostic groups. However, education generally did not moderate the effects of biomarkers on baseline or longitudinal cognition. Our results do not support the hypothesis that education protects cognitive function from brain pathology in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort, questioning its accepted status as a reserve variable.
Key findings
- However, few studies have demonstrated that education statistically moderates the effects of pathology on cognition.
- Our results do not support the hypothesis that education protects cognitive function from brain pathology in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort, questioning its accepted status as a reserve variable.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 55/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 31 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 55 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Neurobiology of aging) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 31889559) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 31 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 31 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 55 out of 100. |
| Total | 55 / 100 | — |
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APA 7th
Bauer, C. E., Brown, C. A., Gold, B. T., & Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2020). Education does not protect cognitive function from brain pathology in the ADNI 2 cohort. Neurobiology of aging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.11.017
Vancouver
Bauer CE, Brown CA, Gold BT, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Education does not protect cognitive function from brain pathology in the ADNI 2 cohort. Neurobiology of aging. 2020. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.11.017. PMID: 31889559.
BibTeX
@article{bauer2020-31889559,
author = {Bauer, Christopher E and Brown, Christopher A and Gold, Brian T and {Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative}},
title = {{Education does not protect cognitive function from brain pathology in the ADNI 2 cohort}},
journal = {Neurobiology of aging},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.11.017},
pmid = {31889559},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.11.017}
}