Lifecourse epidemiology matures: Commentary on Zhang et al. “Early-life socioeconomic status, adolescent cognitive ability, and cognition in late midlife”

Abstract

The effect of education on late life cognition has attracted substantial attention in lifecourse epidemiology, in part because of its relevance for understanding the effect of education on dementia. Although numerous studies document an association between education and later life cognition, these studies are potentially confounded by early life socioeconomic position and cognition. Good measures of these early life constructs are rarely available in data sets assessing cognition in late life. A further body of evidence has taken advantage of compulsory schooling law (CSL) instrumental variables (IV), although these estimates have been criticized based on questions about the validity of CSL IVs. In this issue of the Journal, Zhang et al. took advantage of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to control for both prospectively measured adolescent IQ and early life socioeconomic status in an analysis evaluating the effect of education on cognitive scores in late middle age (Zhang et al., 2019; IN THIS ISSUE). Their results indicate a moderate effect of each additional year of education on later life cognition, of approximately 0.1–0.15 standard deviations per year of schooling. These estimates are remarkably aligned with findings from prior observational designs and from the CSL IV studies. Although criticisms of any individual study are plausible, this new study complements the body of prior evidence to provide compelling evidence for the benefits of education on late life cognition.