The contribution of education to cognitive reserve is limited to its association with level of cognitive function before old age, according to a recent study. These analyses are based on older participants in a longitudinal clinical-pathologic cohort study who had annual cognitive testing (n=2,899) and subgroups that developed incident dementia (n=696), died, and underwent a neuropathologic examination from which 10 neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular markers were derived (n=752), or both (n=405). Researchers found:

• Participants had a mean of 16.3 years of education.
• In all participants, education was associated with initial level of global cognition but not rate of cognitive change.
• In those who developed dementia, rate of global cognitive decline accelerated a mean of 1.8 years before the diagnosis, but education was not related to the onset or rate of accelerated decline.
• In the deceased, rate of global cognitive decline accelerated a mean of 3.4 years before death, but higher educational attainment was related to earlier (not later) onset of accelerated decline and unrelated to rate of acceleration.
• Higher education was associated with lower likelihood of gross and microscopic cerebral infarcts but not with other neuropathologic markers.