Early life linguistic ability, late life cognitive function, and neuropathology: findings from the Nun Study

Childhood cognitive ability and risk of late-onset Alzheimer and vascular dementia

“…The Nun Study also found an association between linguistic ability at about 22 years of age and late-onset dementia, but this was based on just 39 neuropathology cases, only 59% of whom fulfilled clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia. 16 Intuitively, a causal chain linking lower premorbid cognitive ability to midlife vascular risk factors and thence to dementia in old age might be hypothesized. But demonstrating an association between midlife vascular factors and late-onset dementia may be misleading because vascular risk is associated with lower premorbid cognitive ability and thus with reduced cognitive reserve.…”

“…This would be consistent with neuropathologic findings from the Nun study where vascular lesions made a major contribution to AD diagnosis. 16 The same may be applicable to educational attainment, which is closely related to premorbid cognitive ability, 26 and is also associated with dementia risk. 27 Education correlates with the extent of the parietotemporal regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) deficit in AD and this has been put forward as evidence of cognitive reserve.…”

On the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease from multimodal signals: A survey

“…In fact, it is believed that this stage can start 20 years before any symptom is evidenced. The Nun Study, one of the most significant longitudinal studies in the area of AD research, has even shown evidences of correlations between youth linguistic ability and late life progression to AD [17].…”

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Among Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease in the United States: A Literature Review

“…Extra schooling appears to have substantial benefits for memory function in the elderly (Glymour & Manly, 2008). As a protective factor, education also may work in concert with innate cognitive ability, as evidence from the Nun Study suggests that early-life linguistic ability also may be associated with lower risk of AD in later life (Riley, Snowdon, Desrosiers, & Markesbery, 2005).…”