A new study out of Sweden found that your school grades and your likelihood of suffering from dementia may be closely linked.
According to researchers, a person’s school grades at the age of 10 were a definite risk factor for later diagnosis of dementia. What’s more, even if children received subsequent education or entered into high-complexity jobs, they still were at higher risk for dementia if their grades were poor at age 10.
“It seems education and occupational complexity could not compensate for the effect of low baseline abilities — risk was similar in subjects with low grades irrespective of occupation or education,” said study author Serhiy Dekhtyar.
The study drew on data from the Uppsala Birth Cohort study, which enrolled 7,574 newborns between the years of 1915 and 1929 and followed them through 2008. School performance was based on seven subjects at age 10, and it was converted into a cumulative grade point average (GPA). Once all GPAs were quantified, researchers lumped the children into five groups based on the grades they received. Those in the bottom quintile were classified as the “Low” grade group, and they were compared against the four other groups as a whole. Researchers also tracked data on continued education, career selection and eventual dementia diagnosis.
Grades and Dementia
After looking at all the data points, researchers uncovered:
- Children with low grades at age 10 were at 21 percent higher risk for eventual dementia diagnosis.
- When grades were left out of the equation, researchers found that having employment in midlife that involved expertise with numbers appeared to be “modestly protective” against dementia.
- A similar modest association was seen with individuals with university degrees or professional education.
- The people with the lowest incidence of dementia development were those who scored in the top four quintiles, who attended college or university and who held a data-complex job.
Dr. Dekhtyar noted that scoring high marks in school wasn’t correlated with a lower dementia risk, but being in the “Low” group really hurt.
“What really punishes you is to be at the bottom,” Dr. Dekhtyar concluded.
Dr. Silverman comments
Essentially, if you want to remember your multiplication tables when you’re old, you better learn them before you’re 10.
Of course, correlation doesn’t prove causation, but I would be interested in learning more about why good grades at a young age seem to predict dementia likelihood. Dementia has been linked to a poor diet and lack of sleep, and I’d bet kids who are struggling in school might not be getting eight hours of sleep or a balanced diet. I can’t say for certain, but I’d like to see a future study take a look at all three of these factors.
Related source: MedPage Today