UK 1972 School Act Cut Dementia Risk by 0.88 Points, Study Finds
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Oct 29
UK 1972 School Act Cut Dementia Risk by 0.88 Points, Study Finds
3 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Oct 29
Summary
A PNAS study used the UK’s 1972 school-leaving reform as a natural experiment and found the first causal evidence that an extra year of schooling reduced later-life dementia incidence.
The law forced students born after Sept. 1, 1957 to stay in school until 16 instead of 15, letting researchers compare otherwise similar cohorts on either side of the cutoff.
Researchers estimated a 0.88-percentage-point drop in cumulative dementia incidence, but said that figure is likely imprecise because dementia remained under 1% in these still-relatively-young cohorts.
Among people with higher genetic risk, including APOE4 carriers, the added year of education was also linked to a significant reduction in dementia incidence, suggesting genes did not fix outcomes.
The team said the protection may reflect long-run gains in qualifications, income and occupational status, pointing to education as a modifiable factor in dementia risk.