Client Report

Correlation between higher education and onset of Alzheimers disease and dementia

Search Results for

Prepared by Khyle Hannan

Submitted on 5/5/2011

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Section I: Search Request

Here is the search request that you submitted to the topic discussion board on April 10 th: Correlation between higher education and onset of Alzheimers disease and dementia. On April 21st, I submitted these questions to you so that I may better understand your research needs: 1. I see that your preliminary research revealed conflicting evidence in the relationship between higher education and dementia and you specify that you would like to know which report is accurate. Are you looking for a larger body of research supporting one theory over the other? 2. Do you want me to include some additional variables beyond just higher education such as exercise, social interaction, intellectual activities (reading, playing scrabble or chess) etc? 3. Are you interested in more detailed effects of the dementia in a person such as age of onset, severity and impact or is just the diagnosis alone sufficient? 4. Are you interested in health care recommendations for people based on this research? 5. How are you planning on using the information? 6. How recent would you like the information to be? 7. Would you like me to restrict my search to only peer-reviewed journals? 8. Is there anything specific that you would like me to look for in my research? On April 21st your responses indicated that you are interested in any evidence, positive or negative, of a relationship between Alzheimers disease and higher education published within the last five years. You mentioned that youre primarily looking for the relationship between higher education and diagnosis of Alzheimers but you would also be interested in any healthcare recommendations if available. You indicated that both scholarly and popular journals would be appropriate and that your research is for personal interest.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Section II: Sources Consulted

Databases consulted for the reasons given below: Academic Search Complete EBSCOs multi-subject database with coverage in a variety of publication types. Research Library Proquests multi-subject database with coverage in a variety of publication types. Gale Group Magazine Index DIALOGs multi-subject database covering a wide variety of popular magazines. Nursing & Allied Health Source Health care database covering a variety of current medical subjects. MEDLINE The National Library of Medicines bibliographic database covering the medical profession. Google I performed a web search to determine what information on your topic may be available.

Section III: Search Strategies

I began my research in Academic Search Complete as it is a multi-subject database and has broad coverage on a wide variety of topics. To customize my search to the terminology used in this database I utilized the thesaurus. I entered a few key search terms to determine what versions of these terms the database uses. I entered Higher Education and found the database uses: Education, Higher, Universities & Colleges and Post Secondary Education. I entered Alzheimers and found the database uses: ALZHEIMERS Disease. Using this information I attempted the following search: Education, Higher in SU Subject Terms AND Alzheimers disease in SU Subject Terms
Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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The search produced three hits but only one of them was relevant. I examined the one relevant result and found two pearls that may have use: Cognition and Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis. I then attempted to use some of the other thesaurus terms in a descriptor search: DE Post Secondary Education AND DE Alzheimers disease This search produced no results. Using the terms I had obtained from the subject term search results I constructed the following search with a date limit of no earlier than 2005: Cognitive Reserve in Select a Field AND (Education OR College) in Select a Field AND Alzheimers in Select a Field This search produced 30 results with a high degree of relevancy. The term Cognitive Reserve appeared frequently in many of the relevant results. I conducted the same advanced search in Proquests Research Library which is a multi-subject database but the search only retrieved 15 results many of which were multiple publications of the same article. Using DIALOG I searched the Gale Group Magazine Index which is a multi-subject index of over 400 popular magazines. I was trying to see if I could find any popular magazine or journal articles about the subject. I conducted the following proximity searches in DIALOG which tells the database to look for two terms that are near each other in a search result: Education (N)Alzheimers Education(N)Dementia Cognit?(N)Reserve All three searches returned results for most of the individual terms but no results on the combination of the two. Notably the database informed me that Alzheimers was an unmatched term.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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I then started searching in MEDLINE which is a free medical database compiled by the United States National Library of Medicine. I conducted the following MEDLINE search: Cognit* AND (Higher Education OR College) AND Alzheimers I added the truncated Cognit* so the search would bring in cognition as well as cognitive and cognitive reserve. The search produced 525 results with a medium to high degree of relevancy. Finally I conducted a Google search for the phrase Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis in an attempt to determine if there are any relevant current online sources. I found numerous websites and online articles on the topic.

Section IV: Key Findings

My research uncovered many different studies exploring the link between higher education and Alzheimers disease or dementia. The relationship between the two has been extensively studied so there is a large pool of information on the subject. The key phrase in researching the subject is Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis which is a theory that essentially states that individuals have a certain store of cognitive reserve or brain functionality. Each person has a different amount which is thought to be connected to IQ and other biological factors. It seems pursuing intellectually stimulating tasks in life such as higher education builds an individuals cognitive reserve. When a person gets older and begins to experience cognitive decline such as Alzheimers disease it seems that those with a higher amount of cognitive reserve fare better at avoiding the negative symptoms initially. As the onset of the disease increases in severity those with the higher store of cognitive reserve begin to suffer greater cognitive decline at a more rapid pace than those individuals with a lesser store of cognitive reserve. Researchers are not sure why but it seems that cognitive reserve, which can be built from higher education, delays the initial onset of Alzheimers but once the disease reaches an advanced stage of progression these individuals seem to experience cognitive decline at a much faster rate. The majority of the sources I uncovered in my research supported the Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis in their findings. It seems that higher education does play a role in delaying cognitive decline but an individual with a background including higher education can also experience negative consequences as a result. I did not find many recommendations based on the research. No one was advocating avoiding cognitively stimulating activities. The few medical recommendations I did find advocated that it is important to have elderly persons
Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu Page 5

tested for cognitive decline regularly especially if they are more likely to have a large store of cognitive reserve. This is a concern because individuals with a large store of cognitive reserve would be less likely to show the early signs of Alzheimers disease which makes them harder to diagnose and treat.

Section V: Make Recommendations

To keep up with current research in this topic I recommend using the MEDLINE database. It is an open access database and is free for public use. The searches I conducted in MEDLINE produced the greatest number of relevant results. The vast majority of journals covering this topic are scholarly in nature which makes it likely that future studies will appear in a journal indexed by MEDLINE. I recommend using a combination of Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis or cognitive reserve and education. Any of the searches in which I included cognitive reserve as a search term uncovered the greatest amount of relevant results. New developments in this area of research whether they support or refute the hypothesis will undoubtedly include it in the study. As scientists learn more about the relationship between higher education, cognitive reserve and cognitive decline perhaps a healthcare recommendation will emerge.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Section VI: Bibliography

Age-proofing your brain. Consumer Reports on Health, 22.7 (2010): 1-5. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx>. Alzheimer Disease; Higher education helps to buffer older adults from cognitive decline. Science Letter, 51 (April 2005). Research Library. Proquest. 3 May. 2011 (Document ID: 815255991). <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb> Bruandet, A., Richard, F., Bombois, S., Maurage, C., Masse, I., Amouyel, P., & Pasquier, F. Cognitive Decline and Survival in Alzheimer's Disease according to Education Level. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 25.1 (2007): 74-80. Nursing & Allied Health Source. Proquest. 29 April 2011. (Document ID: 1406327191). <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb> Carret, N., Auriacombe, S., Letenneur, L., Bergua, V., Dartigues, J., & Fabrigoule, C. Influence of education on the pattern of cognitive deterioration in AD patients: The cognitive reserve hypothesis.Brain & Cognition, 57.2 (2005): 120-126. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO (Document ID:10.1016/j.bandc.2004.08.031). <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx>. Dumurgier, J., Paquet, C., Benisty, S., Kiffel, C., Lidy, C., Mouton-Liger, F., & ... Hugon, J. Inverse association between CSF A 42 levels and years of education in mild form of Alzheimer's disease: The cognitive reserve theory. Neurobiology of Disease, 40.2 (2010): 456-459. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. (Document ID:10.1016/j.nbd.2010.07.007). <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx>. Hall, C., Lipton, R., Sliwinski, M., Katz, M., Derby, C., & Verghese, J. Cognitive activities delay onset of memory decline in persons who develop dementia. Neurology, 73.5 (2009): 356361. Medline. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Hanyu, H., Sato, T., Shimizu, S., Kanetaka, H., Iwamoto, T., & Koizumi, K. The effect of education on rCBF changes in Alzheimers disease: a longitudinal SPECT study. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging, 35.12 (2008): 2182-2190. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. (Document ID:10.1007/s00259-008-0848-4). <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Medscape.com. Higher Education Delays Dementia Onset But Is Linked to More Rapid Progression. <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/564692>.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Milgram, N. W., Siwak-Tapp, C. T., Araujo, J., & Head, E. Neuroprotective effects of cognitive enrichment. Ageing Research Reviews, 5.3 (2006): 354-369. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. (Document ID:10.1016/j.arr.2006.04.004). <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Nithianantharajah, J., & Hannan, A. J. (2009). The neurobiology of brain and cognitive reserve: Mental and physical activity as modulators of brain disorders. Progress in Neurobiology, 89.4 369-382. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. (Document ID:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.10.001). <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Paradise, M., Cooper, C., & Livingston, G. Systematic review of the effect of education on survival in Alzheimer's disease. International Psychogeriatrics / IPA, 21.1 (2009): 25-32. Medline. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Pavlik, V., Doody, R., Massman, P., & Chan, W. Influence of premorbid IQ and education on progression of Alzheimer's disease. Dementia And Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 22.4 (2006): 367-377. Medline. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Perneczky, R., Wagenpfeil, S., Lunetta, K., Cupples, L., Green, R., DeCarli, C., & ... Kurz, A. Education attenuates the effect of medial temporal lobe atrophy on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease: the MIRAGE study. Journal Of Alzheimer's Disease: JAD, 17.4 (2009): 855-862. Medline. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Scarmeas, N., Albert, S., Manly, J., & Stern, Y. Education and rates of cognitive decline in incident Alzheimer's disease. Journal Of Neurology, Neurosurgery, And Psychiatry, 77.3 (2006): 308-316. Medline. EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>. Van Gerven, P. M., Meijer, W. A., & Jolles, J. Education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory. Brain & Cognition, 64.2 (2007): 158-163. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. ( Document ID:10.1016/j.bandc.2007.02.005) <http://search.ebscohost/login.aspx>.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Section VII: Search History Appendix

EBSCO Academic Search Complete search using subject terms derived from the thesaurus with a subject term limiter. The search yielded three results which only one was relevant.

Query

Limiters/Expanders

Last Run Via Interface EBSCOhost Search Screen Advanced Search Database - Academic Sea

Results

S1

SU ALZHEIMER'S disease and Search modes SU education higher Boolean/Phrase

EBSCO Academic Search Complete search using descriptor limiter which yielded no results.

Query

Limiters/Expanders

Last Run Via Interface EBSCOhost Search Screen Advanced Search Database Academic Sear

Results

DE "POST SECONDARY S1 education" and DE "ALZHEIMER'S disease"

Search modes Boolean/Phrase

DIALOG Classic Web search using proximity operators. I searched several different terms in the multi-subject Gale Group Magazine Database and yielded no relevant results.
File 247:ONTAP(R) Gale Group Magazine Index(TM) (c) 1999 Gale/Cengage Set --Items ----Description -----------

? s education(N)Alzheimer's
>>>Warning: unmatched quote found 1879 EDUCATION 0 ALZHEIMER'S S1 0 EDUCATION(N)ALZHEIMER'S

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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? s education(N)dementia
1879 43 0 EDUCATION DEMENTIA EDUCATION(N)DEMENTIA

S2

? s cognit?(N)reserve
109 562 0 COGNIT? RESERVE COGNIT?(N)RESERVE

S3

? logoff

EBSCO Academic Search Complete search which yielded 30 results with a high degree of relevancy.

Query

Limiters/Expanders Limiters - Published Date from: 20050101-20101231 Search modes Boolean/Phrase

Last Run Via Interface EBSCOhost Search Screen Advanced Search Database Academic Search Complete

Results

cognitive reserve and ( S1 education or college ) and Alzheimer's

30

EBSCO MEDLINE with Full Text search which yielded 525 results with a medium to high degree of relevance.

Query

Limiters/Expanders Limiters - Date of Publication from: 20050101-20111231 Search modes - Boolean/Phrase

Last Run Via Interface EBSCOhost Search Screen Advanced Search Database MEDLINE with

Results

cognit* and ( higher S1 education or college ) and Alzheimer's

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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Google Search for Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis with relevant results.

Khyle Hannan kmhannan@valdosta.edu

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