Relation of education to brain size in normal aging

Coffey, C. Edward; Saxton, Judith; Ratcliff, Graham; Bryan, R. Nick; Lucke, Joseph F.

doi:10.1212/wnl.53.1.189

Cited by 191 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

127

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Step No gender or educational differences were found for any of the brain volumes, which is in line with other findings [6,7]. Because of the marked age-related reduction in total brain volume, it was examined whether the regional volume decreases were disproportional compared to the global reductions.…”

Section: Normal Brain Agingsupporting

confidence: 79%

The relation between global and limbic brain volumes on MRI and cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the age range

Tisserand

Visser

Boxtel

et al. 2000

Neurobiology of Aging

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study investigated the range of age-related changes in brain morphology and the relation with performance on memory and other cognitive tests in a healthy population. A group of 61 subjects (21 to 81 years old, mean ϭ 55.7), free from cognitive and medical deficits, underwent MRI scanning and neuropsychological assessment encompassing memory and other cognitive tests. Volumetry of the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, mamillary bodies, third ventricle, and total brain matter was performed. The results indicate that in healthy individuals increases in ventricular volume and volume decreases in total brain matter, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, but not mamillary bodies, are clearly apparent with increasing age. However, no relation could be established between the brain volumes and test performance when controlling for the effects of age. To conclude, variations in total and limbic brain volumes do not seem predictive for cognitive performance independent of age.

show abstract

Section: Normal Brain Agingsupporting

confidence: 79%

The relation between global and limbic brain volumes on MRI and cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the age range

Tisserand

Visser

Boxtel

et al. 2000

Neurobiology of Aging

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Whole brain voxel-wise comparison in the context of the general linear model with Family Wise Error (FWE) correction was performed in SPM to identify regional gray matter volume differences between groups. All primary analyses were adjusted for ICV, height, age, age-squared, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, self-reported prevalence of diabetes, education level, smoking status and symptoms of depression, as these have been associated with brain volume [17,22,23]. To be able to compare the association between chemotherapy and brain tissue volume with the effect size of age we additionally ran the same general linear model but without including age-square.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global and focal brain volume in long-term breast cancer survivors exposed to adjuvant chemotherapy

Koppelmans

Ruiter

Lijn

et al. 2011

Breast Cancer Res Treat

150

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A limited number of studies have associated adjuvant chemotherapy with structural brain changes. These studies had small sample sizes and were conducted shortly after cessation of chemotherapy. Results of these studies indicate local gray matter volume decrease and an increase in white matter lesions. Up till now, it is unclear if non-CNS chemotherapy is associated with long-term structural brain changes. We compared focal and total brain volume (TBV) of a large set of non-CNS directed chemotherapy-exposed breast cancer survivors, on average 21 years post-treatment, to that of a population-based sample of women without a history of cancer. Structural MRI (1.5T) was performed in 184 chemotherapy-exposed breast cancer patients, mean age 64.0 (SD = 6.5) years, who had been diagnosed with cancer on average 21.1 (SD = 4.4) years before, and 368 age-matched cancer-free reference subjects from a population-based cohort study. Outcome measures were: TBV and total gray and white matter volume, and hippocampal volume. In addition, voxel based morphometry was performed to analyze differences in focal gray matter. The chemotherapy-exposed breast cancer survivors had significantly smaller TBV (-3.5 ml, P = 0.019) and gray matter volume (-2.9 ml, P = 0.003) than the reference subjects. No significant differences were observed in white matter volume, hippocampal volume, or local gray matter volume. This study shows that adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer is associated with long-term reductions in TBV and overall gray matter volume in the absence of focal reductions. The observed smaller gray matter volume in chemotherapy- 123Breast Cancer Res Treat (2012) 132:1099-1106 DOI 10.1007/s10549-011-1888-1 exposed survivors was comparable to the effect of almost 4 years of age on gray matter volume reduction. These volume differences might be associated with the slightly worse cognitive performance that we observed previously in this group of breast cancer survivors.

show abstract

“…In order to test this hypothesis, some imaging studies have used brain atrophy as a surrogate for pathology. In healthy patients, some studies have failed to demonstrate an association between education and cerebral hemisphere volume [71][72][73], but this may be due to low power because of statistical measurement error for parenchymal volume [71]. On the contrary higher education was associated with increased cerebrospinal fluid volume, and, therefore, more atrophy (ie, subjects with higher CR remained cognitively normal despite more brain changes) in another study [71].…”

Section: Structural Imagingmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In healthy patients, some studies have failed to demonstrate an association between education and cerebral hemisphere volume [71][72][73], but this may be due to low power because of statistical measurement error for parenchymal volume [71]. On the contrary higher education was associated with increased cerebrospinal fluid volume, and, therefore, more atrophy (ie, subjects with higher CR remained cognitively normal despite more brain changes) in another study [71]. Among patients with AD and controlling for degree of clinical decline, higher levels of education have been associated with more severe parietal atrophy (higher parietal region peripheral CSF volume) [74].…”

Section: Structural Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive reserve: Implications for diagnosis and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease

Scarmeas

Stern

2004

Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep

206

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Epidemiologic evidence suggests that higher occupational attainment and education, as well as increased participation in intellectual, social, and physical aspects of daily life, are associated with slower cognitive decline in healthy elderly and may reduce the risk of incident Alzheimer's disease (AD). There is also evidence from structural and functional imaging studies that patients with such life experiences can tolerate more AD pathology before showing signs of clinical dementia. It has been hypothesized that such aspects of life experience may result in functionally more efficient cognitive networks and, therefore, provide a cognitive reserve that delays the onset of clinical manifestations of dementia. In this article, we review some of the relevant literature of the noted associations between markers of cognitive reserve and AD and discuss the possible mechanisms that may explain these associations.

show abstract

Relation of education to brain size in normal aging

Cited by 191 publications

References 27 publications

The relation between global and limbic brain volumes on MRI and cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the age range

The relation between global and limbic brain volumes on MRI and cognitive performance in healthy individuals across the age range

Global and focal brain volume in long-term breast cancer survivors exposed to adjuvant chemotherapy

Cognitive reserve: Implications for diagnosis and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About