Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41537452›Full record

ArticleAlzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association2026

Early-life influences on the risk for later-life Alzheimer's and non-Alzheimer's dementia: A nearly full life course prospective cohort study.

Pamela Herd, Kamil Sicinski, Victoria Williams, Sanjay Asthana, Michal Engelman

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Pamela HerdFord School of Public Policy, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Kamil SicinskiCenter for Demography of Health and Aging, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Victoria WilliamsDepartment of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Sanjay AsthanaDepartment of Medicine, University of Wisconsin  School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Michal EngelmanDepartment of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Funding

Wisconsin longitudinal study: Initial lifetime's impact on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (WLS-ILIAD)R01AG060737 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Sanjay Asthana, Michal Engelman · 2018 to 2026
$56.8M
Network on Education, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia across Diverse PopulationsR24AG077433 · NIA · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI Sanjay Asthana, Pamela Herd · 2022 to 2026
$3.0M
National Institute on Aging "Initial Lifetime Incidence of Alzheimer's Disease in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study 2R01AG060737"Network on Education, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia across Populations R24AG077433NIA NIH HHS R01 AG060737NIA NIH HHS R24 AG077433NIA NIH HHS R24AG077433NIH HHS
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDementia prevention research has largely used educational attainment as a proxy for early-life. Given the known influence of early-life exposures on brain development, more attention to early-life exposures is warranted.

methodsWe employ the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a nearly full life course cohort study, to examine the influence of prospectively measured early-life risk factors for dementia in later life.

resultsWe find that early-life risk factors that precede high school completion, rather than early adulthood post-secondary schooling, exert influence on later-life dementia. Household parental resources influence non-Alzheimer's disease (AD), but not AD, dementia risk. In contrast, markers for adolescent cognitive reserve (cognitive and academic performance measures) influence AD dementia risk, in part, by modifying genetic risk. DISCUSSION: Using education as a proxy for early-life exposures conceals specific mechanisms that influence distinct dementia etiologies and are separately intervenable. Education's influence may be confined to the early-life and adolescent period, where brain development is especially malleable. HIGHLIGHTS: Educational attainment is commonly used as a proxy for early-life risk factors for dementia. Given known early-life influences on brain development, more attention to the period is warranted. Early-life parental income influences non-AD dementia risk. Early-life cognition and academic performance influence AD dementia risk. Using educational attainment as a proxy for early-life exposures conceals separate intervenable risk factors.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseDementiaEducational StatusAcademic PerformanceAdolescentAdolescent DevelopmentAgedAged, 80 and overBrainChildCognitive ReserveFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleProspective Studiescognitive reserveearly lifeeducational attainmentsocial determinantssocial exposome

Identifiers

PMID41537452
PMCPMC12805529

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.