Cognitive decline before and after mid-to-late-life continuing education in England: a matched longitudinal analysis of a prospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While WHO/Europe guidelines promote life-long learning for healthy ageing generally, whether adult education supports healthy cognitive ageing is unclear. We used a matched longitudinal study design to account for reverse causality seen in previous studies and assess whether cognitive trajectories improved following mid-to-late life education using data from a nationally representative UK-based cohort study.

Methods

Data were drawn from 3906 participants aged 50-90 years followed up from 2002-03 to 2021-23. At biennial interviews, participants were asked to report whether they had engaged in continuing education in the last 12 months and were split into 'single' (continuing education at one interview) and 'multiple' (continuing education at multiple interviews) co

SUBMITTER: Bloomberg M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12605658 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature