All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
International study questions protective role of education in brain aging
Last reviewed: 03.08.2025
An international study published in the journal Nature Medicine challenges the widely held belief that high levels of formal education directly protect against cognitive decline and brain ageing. The study analysed longitudinal data from more than 170,000 people in 33 Western countries, making it one of the largest studies in the field of cognitive ageing. The University of Barcelona and Institut Guttmann were the only centres in Spain to take part in the project, led by the University of Oslo, Norway, as part of the European Lifebrain consortium.
The findings reinforce the need to develop policies and programs to promote brain health that go beyond cognitive activity and span the entire life course, not just childhood and young adulthood.
It was previously thought that although the overall number of people with dementia worldwide was increasing due to an ageing population, its incidence (the rate of new cases) was declining and that the cognitive function of older people today was better than it was 20 years ago. This was attributed to lifestyle changes, and until now the most common hypothesis was that formal education provided protection against neurodegeneration, or normal brain aging.
However, the team of scientists found that although people with more years of formal education had higher levels of cognitive functioning on average as adults, they experienced the same rate of cognitive decline with age as those with less education.
“You could say that having a higher level of education gives you an advantage at the start of the race, but once the race starts, you don’t go faster or get a shortcut: you’ll face the same obstacles as everyone else, and they’ll affect you in the same way,”
says Professor David Bartres-Faz, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Barcelona and the UBneuro Institute, and director of the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI) at the Guttmann Institute.
Previous studies have had conflicting results and were often limited to small samples or one country. The new work analyzed more than 420,000 neuropsychological and neuroimaging tests from people across different countries and cohorts (European, American, Asian and Australian) using different methodologies, making it one of the most robust and generalizable studies yet. The study included 170,795 people over 50 years of age from 27 longitudinal cohorts, with up to 28 years of follow-up per person.
The BBHI cohort included 966 subjects, while the University of Barcelona included 161. Participants took tests of memory, logical reasoning, information processing speed, and verbal skills. MRI brain scans were also performed on 6,472 people to analyze parameters such as total brain volume and the volume of key areas responsible for memory (the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex).
Very similar evolution
According to the results, higher education was associated with better memory, larger intracranial volume, and slightly larger volumes of memory-sensitive brain regions.
“One possible reason is that it is the individual’s initial neurobiological characteristics that favour higher educational attainment, and not the other way around,” explains researcher Gabriele Cattaneo (BBHI).
Moreover, all groups, regardless of education level, demonstrated almost parallel cognitive decline and structural brain aging over time.
“This does not detract from the fact that having a cognitive reserve is an advantage: if you start higher, you will end higher. It is clear that education and early learning improve cognitive function throughout life, but they do not affect the rate of decline or the pattern of brain aging. All brains, regardless of education, age very similarly in middle and old age,” adds Cattaneo.
The study raises important questions for public policy in the areas of brain health and healthy ageing.
"While promoting education remains important, the results show that it is not enough to ensure healthy aging. That is, simply accumulating years of schooling is not enough to protect the brain from aging. A broader, multifactorial approach is needed, including lifelong interventions: physical activity, ongoing cognitive stimulation, social connections and the prevention of vascular risk factors,"
concludes Javier Solana, scientific director of the Guttmann Institute.