Does having more education reduce brain damage? Research in 33 countries refutes this.

BarcelonaEducation and schooling improve cognitive function throughout life, but they do not influence the rate of brain deterioration. This is the conclusion of an international study with Catalan participation, which refutes the idea that having more education is associated with less cognitive decline as you get older. The journal Nature Medicine has published the research in which workers from the Guttmann Institute and the University of Barcelona (UB) participated, analyzing Longitudinal data from more than 170,000 people from 33 countries. The authors conclude that education from childhood is necessary, but also policies that promote brain activity throughout life.

Having a high level of education is associated with better memory, larger internal cranial volume, and a slightly larger volume of brain regions sensitive to memory. However, regardless of educational level, all brains eventually suffer cognitive decline over time. Thus, the research team maintains that it has shown that people with more years of schooling tend to reach adulthood with a higher cognitive level, but they are not more protected from decline as they age and lose faculties at the same rate as other people with fewer years of formal education.

For David Bartrés-Faz, principal investigator of the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI), "having a higher level of education puts you in an advantageous position at the start of your career, but once you start, it doesn't allow you to go faster or give you any shortcuts." "You will face the same obstacles as everyone else, and they will affect you just like everyone else," he emphasizes.

Thus, the authors call on administrations to invest in public policies linked to mental health and healthy aging. They maintain that it is not enough to "protect" the brain with years of schooling, but that transversal interventions throughout life are necessary, such as physical activity, continuous cognitive stimulation, social relationships, and the prevention of vascular risk factors.

Tests and monitoring

According to the researchers, the studies conducted to date "presented contradictory results and were often limited to small samples or samples from a single country," while in this study, the authors processed more than 420,000 neuropsychological examinations and imaging tests from people from multiple countries using different methodologies, which is why they maintain that it is "one of the subjects." In total, 170,795 people over 50 years of age participated, with a follow-up of up to 28 years for each.

The participants took tests of memory, reasoning, processing speed, and language, and 6,472 individuals also underwent brain MRI tests to analyze parameters such as total brain volume and the volume of key memory regions. All groups showed practically parallel cognitive decline and aging of brain structure over time, and there were no differences related to educational level.