Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease
Abstract To investigate the possible association between educational level and previous professional occupation, and objective cognitive and functional evaluation in a sample of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Through retrospective analysis of medical files, 174 patients wit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Associação Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento
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| Series: | Dementia & Neuropsychologia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642010000400320&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1811304874600562688 |
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| author | José Roberto Wajman Paulo Henrique Ferreira F. Bertolucci |
| author_facet | José Roberto Wajman Paulo Henrique Ferreira F. Bertolucci |
| author_sort | José Roberto Wajman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract To investigate the possible association between educational level and previous professional occupation, and objective cognitive and functional evaluation in a sample of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Through retrospective analysis of medical files, 174 patients with probable Alzheimer disease were randomly selected, classified and submitted to analysis according to previous professional occupation and years of formal education. Results: Subjects with lower education and less intellectually-demanding occupations performed worse than higher educated subjects in all cognitive subtests and on the functional scale. Conclusions: Results indicate that not only the total years of education, but also professional occupation has an impact on cognition and functioning in accordance with the hypothesis of cognitive reserve. Our findings confirmed this hypothesis, where subjects with higher education/ higher intellectual demand manifested first symptoms later than low education/ low intellectual demand subjects, with the latter group also exhibiting faster disease progression. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:15:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d060e040f73c45718a91005c148049c0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1980-5764 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:15:11Z |
| publisher | Associação Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Dementia & Neuropsychologia |
| spelling | doaj.art-d060e040f73c45718a91005c148049c02022-12-22T02:54:50ZengAssociação Neurologia Cognitiva e do ComportamentoDementia & Neuropsychologia1980-57644432032410.1590/S1980-57642010DN40400011S1980-57642010000400320Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's diseaseJosé Roberto WajmanPaulo Henrique Ferreira F. BertolucciAbstract To investigate the possible association between educational level and previous professional occupation, and objective cognitive and functional evaluation in a sample of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Through retrospective analysis of medical files, 174 patients with probable Alzheimer disease were randomly selected, classified and submitted to analysis according to previous professional occupation and years of formal education. Results: Subjects with lower education and less intellectually-demanding occupations performed worse than higher educated subjects in all cognitive subtests and on the functional scale. Conclusions: Results indicate that not only the total years of education, but also professional occupation has an impact on cognition and functioning in accordance with the hypothesis of cognitive reserve. Our findings confirmed this hypothesis, where subjects with higher education/ higher intellectual demand manifested first symptoms later than low education/ low intellectual demand subjects, with the latter group also exhibiting faster disease progression.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642010000400320&lng=en&tlng=eneducational levelneuropsychological assessmentAlzheimer's disease |
| spellingShingle | José Roberto Wajman Paulo Henrique Ferreira F. Bertolucci Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease Dementia & Neuropsychologia educational level neuropsychological assessment Alzheimer's disease |
| title | Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease |
| title_full | Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease |
| title_fullStr | Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease |
| title_short | Intellectual demand and formal education as: cognitive protection factors in Alzheimer's disease |
| title_sort | intellectual demand and formal education as cognitive protection factors in alzheimer s disease |
| topic | educational level neuropsychological assessment Alzheimer's disease |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642010000400320&lng=en&tlng=en |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT joserobertowajman intellectualdemandandformaleducationascognitiveprotectionfactorsinalzheimersdisease AT paulohenriqueferreirafbertolucci intellectualdemandandformaleducationascognitiveprotectionfactorsinalzheimersdisease |