NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A good education may help prevent Alzheimer's disease but also can speed up the ailment's progression once developed, a survey shows.
The survey, in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, is based on 312 New Yorkers aged 65 and older, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and monitored for over five years.
All of the patients underwent four neurological assessments, each of which comprised a dozen separate tests of brain function.
Overall mental agility declined every year among all the patients. But each additional year of education resulted in an additional 0.3 per cent deterioration.
The level of this drop off was particularly evident in the speed of thought processes and memory, the report said.
It was independent of age, mental ability at diagnosis, or other factors likely to affect brain function, such as depression and vascular disease.
