Instrumental variable approaches to identifying the causal effect of educational attainment on dementia risk.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Education is an established correlate of cognitive status in older adulthood, but whether expanding educational opportunities would improve cognitive functioning remains unclear given limitations of prior studies for causal inference. Therefore, we conducted instrumental variable (IV) analyses of the association between education and dementia risk, using for the first time in this area, genetic variants as instruments as well as state-level school policies.

Methods

IV analyses in the Health and Retirement Study cohort (1998-2010) used two sets of instruments: (1) a genetic risk score constructed from three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; n = 7981); and (2) compulsory schooling laws (CSLs) and state school characteristics (term length, student teacher ratios, a

SUBMITTER: Nguyen TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4688127 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature