Highly educated people face steeper brain decline after stroke
The higher you fly, the harder you fall, the old saying goes. There might be something to that when it comes to the aftermath of a stroke, a new study suggests.
People with higher education face a steeper decline in their ability to plan, organize and problem-solve following a stroke, compared to those with less than a high school degree, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.
The results run counter to what researchers had expected: that highly educated people would have slower brain decline following a stroke.
The study found that highly educated stroke survivors did do better than less-educated people in brain tests immediately following a stroke, but that they experienced a faster decline in their cognitive abilities during the years that followed.
"Our findings suggest that attending higher education may enable people to retain greater cognitive ability until a critical threshold of brain injury is reached after a stroke," lead researcher Dr. Mellanie Springer, a professor of neurology at University of Michigan Medical School, said in a news release.
"At this point, compensation may fail, and rapid cognitive decline occurs," she said.
For the study, researchers pooled data from four studies, analyzing the outcomes of more than 2,000 people without dementia who survived a stroke between 1971 and 2019.
Right after a stroke, college graduates performed better than high school dropouts across the board on tests of brain processing speed, executive function and memory, results show.
But college grads later suffered a faster decline in their executive function -- skills used to manage everyday tasks, like planning and problem-solving -- compared to folks who dropped out of either college or high school, researchers found.
Prior to this, experts had considered education level something that might bolster the brain against decline by boosting cognitive reserve, or the ability to preserve higher levels of functioning even in the face of a brain injury.
"Dementia is a greater threat after a first stroke than having another stroke," senior researcher Dr. Deborah Levine, a professor of internal medicine and neurology at the University of Michigan, said in a news release.
In fact, stroke increases a person's risk of dementia by as much as 50-fold, researchers said in background notes.
"We lack treatments that prevent or slow cognitive decline and dementia after stroke," Levine said. "This study increases our understanding and generates potential hypotheses about the causes of post-stroke cognitive decline and which patients face higher risks of it."
Researchers also found that genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's did not appear to play a role in the relationship between stroke and brain decline.
That means that the critical point at which a person's brain starts to fail does not depend on underlying genetic risk, and can be reached after just a single stroke, Springer said.
"Identifying which stroke patients are at the highest risk for cognitive decline will help target future interventions to slow cognitive decline," Springer said.
More information
The American Stroke Association has more on the effects of stroke.
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
New FDA-approved Alzheimer's blood test coming to Mayo Clinic
The Brief The FDA has approved the marketing of a new blood test by Fujirebio. The biomarker test measures the ratio of tau and amyloid proteins in the blood of a person with symptoms of cognitive decline to confirm the presence of Alzheimer's disease. Mayo Clinic will be one of 37 Alzheimer's clinics across the country to receive the new blood testing equipment starting at the end of June. MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of a new tool to that can test a person's blood to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. The blood test is a groundbreaking development to confirm the disease in patients who are already experiencing cognitive decline. What we know The diagnostic tool, called Lumipulse, is manufactured by the world-wide medical research and development firm Fujirebio. The procedure, called the G pTau 217/β-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) test, measures the presence of the amyloid and tau proteins in the brain that build the plaques leading to Alzheimer's disease. Fujirebio will now start distributing the diagnostic tests by the end of June to 37 Alzheimer's clinics across the United States including Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "I was very excited to get the news that there was an FDA approved test," said Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D. of Mayo Clinic who's been offering a version of the blood test for the past year in their laboratory. "It's just increasing the access to patients, and now many more laboratories will be able to offer this test." Dr. Algeciras-Schimnich says Mayo hopes will have the capacity to offer 1,000 to 5,000 blood tests a month with this new diagnostic protocol. What patients say Tim Sandry admits he's never had the best memory, but when he approached turning 67, he and his wife Ellen started noticing changes. "I wanted to find out what's going on here," recalled Sandry when he and his wife decided to see a neurologist. The doctor put him through a series of cognitive tests and determined he had what's called mild cognitive impairment which is a noticeable slowing of memory function. It wasn't long after his cognitive tests that a new diagnostic spinal tap was available to detect the presence of Alzheimer's disease. But it was invasive and painful. "In the morning they took the spinal fluid, and then I had to stay very still for the rest of the day. And then they sent me home, and I had an awful headache for the next three days," said Sandry of the hospital procedure. This new test would have saved him the pain and provided reliable results. "Oh, so much difference," said Sandry about the chance to have had a diagnostic blood test. "I mean, this blood test is going to shake things up dramatically I believe." Why you should care The faster a person experiencing cognitive decline can get a positive diagnosis for Alzheimer's the faster they can start taking one of two recently FDA approved drugs to slow the progression of the disease. Those drugs are Leqembi and Kisunla. "It makes it much quicker for those people to start treatment and to start looking at what options there are, whether it's clinical trials or medication," said Jenna Fink of the Alzheimer's Association Minnesota-North Dakota chapter. Sandry has been on a regimen of Leqembi since his own diagnosis and he believes it has dramatically slowed the disease in his own brain. "The sooner you get diagnosed, the quicker you can get on those drugs and the less damage this will do to your brain And the longer you will be able to function, cognitively," he said. Dig deeper The new blood test not only speeds up the diagnosis process, it also offers more accuracy. "The clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease is only about 70-75% accurate," said Mayo's Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich of the standard practice of cognitive testing and PET scans of the brain. Adding the blood biomarker test increases the accuracy of an Alzheimer's diagnosis to 90-95%. "So really, it is a significant improvement in the diagnosis for patients, which now can have an earlier answer for their symptoms," said Algeciras-Schmnich.' By the numbers As many as 101,900 Minnesotan over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer's according to the 2025 facts and figures report from the Alzheimer's Association. That adds up to 10.7% of Minnesota adults over 65. Alzheimer's affects more than just the patients. For every patient, there are caregivers, many of them family members. When those numbers are added up, the Alzheimer's Association estimates there are 166,000 caregivers in Minnesota. Across the nation, 7.2 million Americans are living with the Alzheimer's, and 74% are over the age of 75.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Advocates help raise awareness in Harrison County for Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — June is Alzheimer's and brain awareness month, and here in West Virginia, more than 38,000 people aged 65 and older have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Impact Movement. And as the age of people diagnosed is decreasing, general concern is increasing. Advocates of the cause are helping raise awareness of Alzheimer's and brain health by speaking with local city councils. These advocates were granted a proclamation on behalf of the Harrison County Commission in its meeting on Wednesday, the Clarksburg City Council on Thursday, and will receive one from the Bridgeport City Council on Friday. 12 News spoke with Bill O'Field, Mission Chairman of the North Central Walk to End Alzheimer's, who spoke with doctors from the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute on what some of the key signs of dementia and Alzheimer's may look like. Harrison County commissioners split on future of Sunset Ellis property 'It's normal in the aging process to maybe forget a name or forget where you put your car keys, but then you find them. And maybe later in the day, the seniors say, 'but then I remember that name when I get home. The doctor said that's good.' That's just the normal aging process taking place. But it's when you can't cook for yourself, you don't know how to do your laundry, those are the true signs of Alzheimer's,' said O'Field. O'Field also mentioned to be wary of weight loss and depression, and to maintain a healthy diet and exercise, as a healthy body can help result in a healthy mind. The Harrison County Senior Center offers an Alzheimer's support group in its boardroom at 10 a.m. on the second Thursday of each month. You can call 304-623-6795 for more information. The North Central Walk to End Alzheimer's will also be held on Oct. 5 this year at the Meadowbrook Mall with registration beginning at 1 p.m. and the ceremony beginning at 2 p.m. For more information about Alzheimer's and local resources, you can call 800-272-3900 or click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
First FDA-approved blood test helps early detection of Alzheimer's
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – A simple blood draw has now become a powerful tool in the early fight against Alzheimer's. The FDA has approved the first blood test to help detect signs of Alzheimer's disease. It's called the Lumipulse test, and it looks for key proteins in the blood that are linked to the disease's early stages. 'There are several blood tests out there. This is the first blood test that has FDA clearance. This test is a biomarker, and we're familiar with biomarkers in other respects. For example, diabetes. You know, there's a blood test to see if there's glucose in the blood or what the blood sugar level is like. So biomarkers help us to detect that something's going on in the body,' Florida Representative for the Alzheimer's Association Stefanie Wardlow said. Hopeful Hearts provides free virtual support for parents of pediatric cancer patients Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder known to slowly destroy memory and thinking have relied on brain scans or spinal taps for diagnosis, which can be costly and sometimes hard to access. This test could make early diagnosis more available to detection gives families more time to plan, start treatment, and even join clinical trials. 'My aunt in the sixties had her first blood draw when she was in first grade. Unfortunately, science hadn't been improved up until the early nineties.. I think that if this would have been offered or, you know, come up with in the sixties, seventies, eighties, it could have been a complete game changer,' PCC RC Substance Abuse Counselor Kathy Hobbs said. The Alzheimer's association estimates that nearly 11 percent of adults 65 and over in Bay County have Alzheimer's. Some warning signs for the disease include short-term memory loss that disrupts daily life, confusion with time or place, difficulty completing familiar tasks, and more. 'You don't just want a blood test, right? That's just one piece of information. You want to still have cognitive testing done. You want the doctor to be able to rule out certain things. That's not your hormones,' Wardlow said. To learn more about Alzheimer's, you can visit here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
