有統(tǒng)計顯示，受教育程度與患阿爾茨海默氏癥的風(fēng)險成反比例關(guān)系,，但原因為何卻一直不清,。日前，英國和芬蘭科學(xué)家最新發(fā)表在《大腦》雜志上的論文稱,，這是因為知識豐富的人可更好地應(yīng)對阿爾茨海默氏癥帶來的大腦組織的變化,，相比之下，多受一年教育者,，其患上該癥的風(fēng)險會降低11%,。
阿爾茨海默氏癥俗稱為老年癡呆癥,。過去十年關(guān)于其的研究不斷顯示，一個人受教育的程度越高,，患病的風(fēng)險就越低,，但對于教育是否就可以防止阿爾茨海默氏癥，卻難有定論,。相關(guān)研究也表明,，該病與腦組織變化間并不是一一對應(yīng)的關(guān)系，同樣是患有阿爾茨海默氏癥,，有的人可能會有很多大腦病理學(xué)的表現(xiàn),，而有的人則可能很少。
英國和芬蘭兩國的研究人員對參與歐洲流行病臨床病理學(xué)研究EClipSE項目的872名老年人的大腦進行了分析研究,，這些人中有56%的人在死前患有阿爾茨海默氏癥。他們發(fā)現(xiàn),，雖然人受教育的層次不同,，但其大腦病理學(xué)表征是相似的，而之所以受教育多的人患阿爾茨海默氏癥的風(fēng)險較小,，是因為他們能在出現(xiàn)阿爾茨海默氏癥癥狀之前,，更好地應(yīng)對其大腦出現(xiàn)的變化，以抵消該病的負面影響,。
領(lǐng)導(dǎo)該項研究的英國劍橋大學(xué)教授卡羅·布雷恩表示,，一個人的受教育程度關(guān)乎其社會經(jīng)濟地位和生活方式，而一個社會的教育水平則與整個社會的健康和諧發(fā)展息息相關(guān),。該研究表明,，對早期教育的投資，無論是對社會,，還是對個人生活,，都是值得的(劉海英)。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Brain 2010 133(8):2210-2216; doi:10.1093/brain/awq185
Education, the brain and dementia: neuroprotection or compensation?
Carol Brayne1, Paul G. Ince2, Hannah A. D. Keage1, Ian G. McKeith3, Fiona E. Matthews4, Tuomo Polvikoski3 and Raimo Sulkava5
1 Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK 2 School of Medical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2RX, UK 3 Institute for Ageing and Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle NE4 5PL, UK 4 Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge CB2 0SR, UK 5 School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, Kuopio 70210, Finland
The potential protective role of education for dementia is an area of major interest. Almost all older people have some pathology in their brain at death but have not necessarily died with dementia. We have explored these two observations in large population-based cohort studies (Epidemiological Clinicopathological Studies in Europe; EClipSE) in an investigation of the relationships of brain pathology at death, clinical dementia and time in education, testing the hypothesis that greater exposure to education reduces the risk of dementia. EClipSE has harmonized longitudinal clinical data and neuropathology from three longstanding population-based studies that included post-mortem brain donation. These three studies started between 1985 and 1991. Number of years of education during earlier life was recorded at baseline. Incident dementia was detected through follow-up interviews, complemented by retrospective informant interviews, death certificate data and linked health/social records (dependent on study) after death. Dementia-related neuropathologies were assessed in each study in a comparable manner based on the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease protocol. Eight hundred and seventy-two brain donors were included, of whom 56% were demented at death. Longer years in education were associated with decreased dementia risk and greater brain weight but had no relationship to neurodegenerative or vascular pathologies. The associations between neuropathological variables and clinical dementia differed according to the ‘dose’ of education such that more education reduced dementia risk largely independently of severity of pathology. More education did not protect individuals from developing neurodegenerative and vascular neuropathology by the time they died but it did appear to mitigate the impact of pathology on the clinical expression of dementia before death. The findings suggest that an understanding of the mechanisms leading to functional protection in the presence of pathology may be of considerable value to society.
