Instrumental variable approaches to identifying the causal effect of educational attainment on dementia risk
Nguyen TT, Tchetgen Tchetgen EJ, Kawachi I, Gilman SE, Walter S, Liu SY, Manly JJ, Glymour MM.. Annals of epidemiology, 2015-10-30
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Purpose Education is an established correlate of cognitive status in older adulthood, but whether expanding educational opportunities would improve cognitive functioning remains unclear given limitations of prior studies for causal inference. Therefore, we conducted instrumental variable (IV) analyses of the association between education and dementia risk, using for the first time in this area, genetic variants as instruments as well as state-level school policies. Methods IV analyses in the Health and Retirement Study cohort (1998-2010) used two sets of instruments: (1) a genetic risk score constructed from three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; n = 7981); and (2) compulsory schooling laws (CSLs) and state school characteristics (term length, student teacher ratios, and expenditures; n = 10,955). Results Using the genetic risk score as an IV, there was a 1.1% reduction in dementia risk per year of schooling (95% confidence interval, -2.4 to 0.02). Leveraging compulsory schooling laws and state school characteristics as IVs, there was a substantially larger protective effect (-9.5%; 95% confidence interval, -14.8 to -4.2). Analyses evaluating the plausibility of the IV assumptions indicated estimates derived from analyses relying on CSLs provide the best estimates of the causal effect of education. Conclusions IV analyses suggest education is protective against risk of dementia in older adulthood.
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APA 7th
Nguyen, T. T., Tchetgen Tchetgen, E. J., Kawachi, I., Gilman, S. E., Walter, S., Liu, S. Y., et al. (2016). Instrumental variable approaches to identifying the causal effect of educational attainment on dementia risk. Annals of epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.10.006
Vancouver
Nguyen TT, Tchetgen Tchetgen EJ, Kawachi I, Gilman SE, Walter S, Liu SY, et al. Instrumental variable approaches to identifying the causal effect of educational attainment on dementia risk. Annals of epidemiology. 2016. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.10.006. PMID: 26633592.
BibTeX
@article{nguyen2016-26633592,
author = {Nguyen, T. T. and Tchetgen Tchetgen, E. J. and Kawachi, I. and Gilman, S. E. and Walter, S. and Liu, S. Y. and Manly, J. J. and Glymour, M. M.},
title = {{Instrumental variable approaches to identifying the causal effect of educational attainment on dementia risk}},
journal = {Annals of epidemiology},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.10.006},
pmid = {26633592},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.10.006}
}
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Key findings
- Results Using the genetic risk score as an IV, there was a 1.1% reduction in dementia risk per year of schooling (95% confidence interval, -2.4 to 0.02).
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Study details
- Participants7,981
- Effect size1.1%; 9.5%
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design 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 and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Annals of epidemiology) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| 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 | 1 / 5 | 2016 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 7,981 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| 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 26633592) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 31 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100. |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
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