ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2019
The relationship between cognitive decline and a genetic predictor of educational attainment.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Associations and interaction effects of socioeconomic, lifestyle, and genetic factors on intrinsic capacity.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Intersectional approaches to cognitive aging: a practical guide to modeling heterogeneous trajectories with GLMM-trees.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Education as a Modifier of Genetic Influence on Cognitive Ability in Older Adults.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Frontal Theta Event-Related Oscillations During a Continuous Performance Test: The Influence of Trauma Type and Fluid Intelligence Polygenic Score.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Causal Effects of Schooling on Memory at Older Ages in Six Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Nonparametric Evidence With Harmonized Datasets.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Factors Influencing Poststroke Cognitive Dysfunction: Cross-Sectional Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Association Between Cognitive Trajectories and Subsequent Health Status, Depressive Symptoms, and Mortality Among Older Adults in the United States: Findings From a Nationally Representative Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Article
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- Heterogenous trajectories in physical, mental and cognitive health among older Americans: Roles of genetics and life course contextual factors.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Sibling Deaths, Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage, and Dementia in Later Life.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- Nirvana: A Qualitative Study of Posttraumatic Growth in Adolescents and Young Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Using sibling models to unpack the relationship between education and cognitive functioning in later life.SSM - population health · 2022Article
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- Article
- Genetic and non-genetic factors associated with the phenotype of exceptional longevity & normal cognition.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Separating Measured Genetic and Environmental Effects: Evidence Linking Parental Genotype and Adopted Child Outcomes.Behavior genetics · 2020Article
- Volunteering, polygenic risk for Alzheimer's disease, and cognitive functioning among older adults.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2020Article
- Educational attainment and allostatic load in later life: Evidence using genetic markers.Preventive medicine · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
Genetic and environmental factors both make substantial contributions to the heterogeneity in individuals' levels of cognitive ability. Many studies have examined the relationship between educational attainment and cognitive performance and its rate of change. Yet there remains a gap in knowledge regarding whether the effect of genetic predictors on individual differences in cognition becomes more or less prominent over the life course. In this analysis of over 5000 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in the U.S., we measured the change in performance on global cognition, episodic memory, attention & concentration, and mental status over 14 years. Growth curve models are used to evaluate the association between a polygenic risk score for education (education PGS) and cognitive change. Using the most recent education PGS, we find that individuals with higher scores perform better across all measures of cognition in later life. Education PGS is associated with a faster decline in episodic memory in old age. The relationships are robust even after controlling for phenotypic educational attainment, and are unlikely to be driven by mortality bias. Future research should consider genetic effects when examining non-genetic factors in cognitive decline. Our findings represent a need to understand the mechanisms between genetic endowment of educational attainment and cognitive decline from a biological angle.
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