LOW EDUCATION IS A GENUINE RISK FACTOR FOR ACCELERATED MEMORY DECLINEAND DEMENTIA

A relatively high prevalence and incidence of dementia have been found in population strata with low levels of education in comparison to po pulation strata with high levels of education. However, doubt remains whether this may be an artifact of education bias in the screening tes ts used. To investigate this matter, we analyzed results of two Dutch population surveys in which unbiased measures of memory decline were u sed. In the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (n = 1774) the percenta ge of words retained in a verbal learning test was found to be disprop ortionately low in the oldest age cohort (80-85 years) with less than 11 years of education. The Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (n = 4051) f ound a ''dose-response'' relationship between education and dementia p revalence. Cross-sectional and longitudinal results showed that, in le ss educated people, memory decline is faster and sets in at an earlier age. These findings indicate that the relationship between dementia a nd education is not just an artifact of case detection methods. (C) 19 97 Elsevier Science Inc.