Dr. Adams
06-27-2008, 03:22 PM
"Low IQ in childhood is a risk factor for later development of vascular dementia (VaD), but not Alzheimer's disease (AD. Preteens who scored low on a cognitive assessment test were about 40% more likely to develop VaD as seniors than their schoolmates with higher IQs.
The study reinforces the notion that the risk for vascular dementia is lifelong and that prevention strategies could be implemented early on. Diseases in old age like dementia may have their origins much earlier in life. Attention to vascular risk factors in middle age may have important consequences for reducing dementia rates later in life.
No other independent variable — paternal age at subject's birth, maternal age at subject's birth, or age of subject at SMS — had any significant effect on the model.
The researchers did not find any sex differences, but that may have been because there were not enough people in the study. The association between lower cognitive ability and later diagnosis of dementia did not hold true for AD. The pathway that links lower childhood IQ with late-onset dementia is mainly through vascular disease.
IQ may be considered representative of cognitive reserve. Higher IQ relates to more reserve, so when something happens you have more reserves to draw on. It's possible that people with lower cognitive ability have less reserve to resist the pathological changes that lead to dementia. However, if a lack of cognitive reserve explains the link between childhood cognition and later dementia, we would expect a similar effect on Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, which wasn't the case in this study.
The more likely possibility is that people with lower cognitive ability are exposed to more vascular insults — for example, higher blood pressure, more smoking, and more exposure to smoke-filled environments — that lead to dementia.
The brain determines IQ, but it also controls blood pressure. A lower IQ may reflect some general state of the brain leading to poorer blood pressure control systems."
Neurology. June 25, 2008.
The study reinforces the notion that the risk for vascular dementia is lifelong and that prevention strategies could be implemented early on. Diseases in old age like dementia may have their origins much earlier in life. Attention to vascular risk factors in middle age may have important consequences for reducing dementia rates later in life.
No other independent variable — paternal age at subject's birth, maternal age at subject's birth, or age of subject at SMS — had any significant effect on the model.
The researchers did not find any sex differences, but that may have been because there were not enough people in the study. The association between lower cognitive ability and later diagnosis of dementia did not hold true for AD. The pathway that links lower childhood IQ with late-onset dementia is mainly through vascular disease.
IQ may be considered representative of cognitive reserve. Higher IQ relates to more reserve, so when something happens you have more reserves to draw on. It's possible that people with lower cognitive ability have less reserve to resist the pathological changes that lead to dementia. However, if a lack of cognitive reserve explains the link between childhood cognition and later dementia, we would expect a similar effect on Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, which wasn't the case in this study.
The more likely possibility is that people with lower cognitive ability are exposed to more vascular insults — for example, higher blood pressure, more smoking, and more exposure to smoke-filled environments — that lead to dementia.
The brain determines IQ, but it also controls blood pressure. A lower IQ may reflect some general state of the brain leading to poorer blood pressure control systems."
Neurology. June 25, 2008.