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Alzheimer's may be linked to dropout rate
Submitted by Medill News Service on Thu, 10/11/2007 - 9:47am.
By Darren Swan
Medill News Service - Chicago
High school dropouts are at higher risk for Alzheimer's disease compared to their graduating counterparts -- regardless of income, physical activity and occupation, according to a Finnish study published Oct. 2 in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
If that correlation remains constant over time it could mean serious trouble for a large number of Chicago's youth who do not receive their high school diplomas.
According to the reports generated by the Consortium on Chicago Public Schools Research, the Chicago high school graduation rate in 2006 was 70% -- 12% lower than the 82% national average derived by the National Education Longitudinal Study.
Local graduation rates at Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences and Morgan Park High School are 80.8% and 85.1%, respectively.
Still, the dropout rates of those two schools -- 3% and 3.6%, respectively -- are only slightly higher than the median graduation rate of the entire Chicago area (2.3%), according to a survey published in the October issue of Chicago Magazine.
However, because no Alzheimer research can be absolutely conclusive without identical retests, larger scopes and more investigation, Alzheimer's remains nothing short of a severely life-altering condition affecting people around the world. No definite cause or cure has been identified.
"It's bad to have a problem," said Dr. Steven Younkin MD, PhD from the Mayo Clinic in Florida. "But it's horrendous to not have a way to attack it."
Yet doctors from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and University of Kuopio in Finland studied more than 1,300 participants through middle-aged and late life for 21 years in hopes of identifying social characteristics that could serve as precursors of Alzheimer's.
The participants were initially divided into three groups based on education levels: low, medium and high, which equate to an elementary, middle and high school education in Finland.
Those who graduated high school were two times less likely to acquire Alzheimer's disease or dementia than those in the study who did not.
High school graduates had an 80% lower risk of obtaining dementia or Alzheimer's than the participants who spent less than five years in school.
Author of the study, Tim Ngandu, MD, PhD of the Karolinska Institute, cited a correlation between strong personal cognitive reserve -- the brain's ability to maintain function despite damage -- and at least a high school education as possible cause for the study's primary findings.
Younkin, who helped discover the single brain protein (AB42) largely regarded as the center point of the disorder, works extensively with genetic research related to Alzheimer's. He described dementia as the general decline of cognitive performance and the largest perpetuator of it is Alzheimer's.
He said research is always being conducted. Evidence from recent studies support the notion that head trauma will increase the risk for AD. But offering concrete suggestions on prevention methods is something he or no doctor can do.
"Some say exercise could prevent it and there's obviously no harm in doing crossword puzzles or Soduku every day, but nothing is for sure."
And it's up to rehabilitation specialists like Allison Averill, associate medical director at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in East Orange, N.J, to work with Alzheimer patients in an attempt to slow and deal with the onset of the disease.
"As far as we know, nothing will prevent Alzheimer's," Averill said.
What do you think? Let us know what your thoughts are on Alzheimer's and whether there might be any truth in the assumption that dropout rates might correspond with the likelihood of the disease.
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