UPI reports results of a study in the U.K. which followed 8400 older people for 10 years. It found the following:
Folks with more money and better education are at less risk for developing dementia as they grow older, a new study shows.
They found that aging folks with a college education are 43% less likely to have mild cognitive impairment, results showed.
Further, being in the wealthiest third of the population is linked with a 26% lower risk of advancing from mild cognitive impairment into full-blown dementia, researcher said.
Results also showed that advantaged people are more likely to recover from mild cognitive impairment and regain their wits.
The findings are correlational, that is, they do not prove causality. I’d argue that starting out with a better brain and not having to worry about money both help in keeping dementia away from one’s door.
But the cause could actually be that the more educated and affluent are more likely to be married and that helps with mental health too. As I’ve written too many times in an academic career, “More research on this topic is needed.”
