Impact of education on cerebral cortex volume, thickness and Alzheimer’s disease
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/QS.2024.16.52206Keywords
intelligence, education, volume, thickness, cerebral cortex, Alzheimer's diseaseAbstract
Introduction and objective: The purpose of our review was to systematize the knowledge regarding the impact of education on cortical volume and thickness along with assessment of the risk and progress of Alzheimer's disease. We considered the problem among children as well as adults, depending on their level of education and particularized the role of cognitive reserve as a protection from brain damage. Furthermore, we investigate the issue of neuronal tolerance in Alzheimer’s disease.
Review methods: The article is a review of 22 original papers, cohort studies and meta-analyses concerning the impact of education on cortical volume and thickness along with the risk and progress of Alzheimer’s disease.
Abbreviated description of the state of knowledge: Studies have shown that education is associated with an increase in intelligence, which determines the dynamics of brain cortex changes among children. In adults, the thickness of individual brain areas - primarily the temporal and frontal poles - enhances with the increase of their education level. The dynamics of changes in cortical measurements are correlated with education both in healthy adults and in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A healthy lifestyle, common for those with higher education, has a positive impact on cortical thickness and lowers the risk of developing Alzeihmer’s disease. Moreover, education comes with better neuronal tolerance for accumulated proteins, yet few studies take notice of more dynamic progress of the disease among adults with higher education.
Summary: Research has confirmed the impact of education on cortical volume and thickness. The risk and progress of Alzheimer’s disease are also reflected in the patient’s level of education nevertheless the literature is ambiguous regarding this issue.
References
Patestas MA. A Textbook of Neuroanatomy. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2016.
Ritchie SJ, Cox SR, Shen X, et al. Sex Differences in the Adult Human Brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank Participants. Cereb Cortex. 2018;28(8):2959-2975. https://doi:10.1093/cercor/bhy109
Glasser MF, Smith SM, Marcus DS, et al. The Human Connectome Project's neuroimaging approach. Nat Neurosci. 2016;19(9):1175-1187. https://doi:10.1038/nn.4361
Konturek SJ. Human physiology. 3rd ed. Edra Urban & Partner, 2019.
Dugger BN, Dickson DW. Pathology of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2017;9(7):a028035. Published 2017 Jul 5. https://doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a028035
Lane CA, Hardy J, Schott JM. Alzheimer's disease. Eur J Neurol. 2018;25(1):59-70. https://doi:10.1111/ene.13439
Goleman D. Emotional intelligence. Media Rodzina, 2021.
Hegelund ER, Grønkjær MS, Osler M, et al. The influence of educational attainment on intelligence. Intelligence. 2020;78. 101419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2019.101419
Ritchie SJ, Tucker-Drob EM. How Much Does Education Improve Intelligence? A Meta-Analysis. Psychol Sci. 2018;29(8):1358-1369. https://doi:10.1177/0956797618774253
Shaw P, Greenstein D, Lerch J, et al. Intellectual ability and cortical development in children and adolescents. Nature. 2006;440(7084):676-679. https://doi:10.1038/nature04513
Steffener J. Education and age-related differences in cortical thickness and volume across the lifespan. Neurobiol Aging. 2021;102:102-110. https://doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2020.10.034
Abutalebi J, Guidi L, Borsa V, et al. Bilingualism provides a neural reserve for aging populations. Neuropsychologia. 2015;69:201-210. https://doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.040
Foubert-Samier A, Catheline G, Amieva H, et al. Education, occupation, leisure activities, and brain reserve: a population-based study. Neurobiol Aging. 2012;33(2):423.e15-423.e4.23E25. https://doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.09.023
Kari JT, Viinikainen J, Böckerman P, et al. Education leads to a more physically active lifestyle: Evidence based on Mendelian randomization. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2020;30(7):1194-1204. https://doi:10.1111/sms.13653
Lee JS, Shin HY, Kim HJ, et al. Combined effects of physical exercise and education on age-related cortical thinning in cognitively normal individuals. Sci Rep. 2016;6:24284. Published 2016 Apr 11. https://doi:10.1038/srep24284
Rosoff DB, Clarke TK, Adams MJ, et al. Educational attainment impacts drinking behaviors and risk for alcohol dependence: results from a two-sample Mendelian randomization study with ~780,000 participants. Mol Psychiatry. 2021;26(4):1119-1132. https://doi:10.1038/s41380-019-0535-9
Dai X, Yu J, Gao L, et al. Cortical thickness and intrinsic activity changes in middle-aged men with alcohol use disorder. Alcohol. 2023;106:15-21. https://doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2022.10.001
Azizi Fard N, De Francisci Morales G, Mejova Y, et al. On the interplay between educational attainment and nutrition: a spatially-aware perspective. EPJ Data Sci. 2021;10:18 https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-021-00273-y
Li C, Chen Z, He S, Chen Y, Liu J. Unveiling the influence of daily dietary patterns on brain cortical structure: insights from bidirectional Mendelian randomization. Food Funct. 2023;14(23):10418-10429. Published 2023 Nov 27. https://doi:10.1039/d3fo02879h
Kim RE, Lee M, Kang DW, Wang SM, Kim D, Lim HK. Effects of education mediated by brain size on regional brain volume in adults. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2023;330:111600. https://doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111600
Anderson EL, Howe LD, Wade KH, et al. Education, intelligence and Alzheimer's disease: evidence from a multivariable two-sample Mendelian randomization study. Int J Epidemiol. 2020;49(4):1163-1172. https://doi:10.1093/ije/dyz280
Fritsch T, McClendon MJ, Smyth KA, et al. Effects of educational attainment on the clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease: results from a research registry. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2001;16(6):369-376. https://doi:10.1177/153331750101600606
van Loenhoud AC, van der Flier WM, Wink AM, et al. Cognitive reserve and clinical progression in Alzheimer disease: A paradoxical relationship. Neurology. 2019;93(4):e334-e346. https://doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000007821
Roe CM, Mintun MA, D'Angelo G, Xiong C, Grant EA, Morris JC. Alzheimer disease and cognitive reserve: variation of education effect with carbon 11-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B uptake. Arch Neurol. 2008;65(11):1467-1471. https://doi:10.1001/archneur.65.11.1467
Hoenig MC, Bischof GN, Onur ÖA, et al. Level of education mitigates the impact of tau pathology on neuronal function. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2019;46(9):1787-1795. https://doi:10.1007/s00259-019-04342-3
Raghupathi V, Raghupathi W. The influence of education on health: an empirical assessment of OECD countries for the period 1995-2015. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:20. Published 2020 Apr 6. https://doi:10.1186/s13690-020-00402-5
Karama S, Bastin ME, Murray C, et al. Childhood cognitive ability accounts for associations between cognitive ability and brain cortical thickness in old age. Mol Psychiatry. 2014;19(5):555-559. https://doi:10.1038/mp.2013.64
Wilson RS, Li Y, Aggarwal NT, et al. Education and the course of cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2004;63(7):1198-1202. https://doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000140488.65299.53
Teri L, McCurry SM, Edland SD, Kukull WA, Larson EB. Cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal investigation of risk factors for accelerated decline. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1995;50A(1):M49-M55.
Teri L, McCurry SM, Edland SD, Kukull WA, Larson EB. Cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal investigation of risk factors for accelerated decline. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1995;50A(1):M49-M55. https://doi:10.1093/gerona/50a.1.m49
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Maciej Biskupski, Martyna Bartoszczyk, Jan Ostański, Aleksander Daniluk, Kaja Iwaniuk, Jakub Buczek, Zuzanna Białkowska, Maciej Samczuk, Hubert Stachowicz, Joanna Olszak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 230
Number of citations: 0
