The importance of education for understanding variability of dementia onset in the United States

Hyungmin Cha, Mark D. Hayward, Chi-Tsun Chiu and Mateo Farina
Additional contact information
Hyungmin Cha: University of Texas at Austin
Mark D. Hayward: University of Texas at Austin
Chi-Tsun Chiu: Academia Sinica
Mateo Farina: University of Southern California

Demographic Research, 2024, vol. 50, issue 26, 733-762

Abstract: Background: Greater levels of education are associated with lower risk of dementia, but less is known about how education is also associated with the compression of dementia incidence. Objective: We extend the literature on morbidity compression by evaluating whether increased levels of education are associated with greater dementia compression. We evaluate these patterns across race and gender groups. Methods: We use the Health and Retirement Study (2000–2016), a nationally representative longitudinal study of older adults in the United States. To evaluate the onset and compression of dementia across education groups, we examine the age-specific distribution of dementia events, identifying the modal age of onset and the standard deviation above the mode (a measure of compression). Results: While the modal age of onset is around 85 years among adults with a college degree, the modal age for adults with less than a high school education occurs before age 65 – at least a 20-year difference. The standard deviation of dementia onset is about three times greater for adults with less than a high school education compared to adults with a college degree. Patterns were consistent across race and gender groups. Conclusions: This research highlights the variability of dementia experiences in the older population by documenting differences in longevity without dementia and compression of dementia onset among more educated adults and less educated adults. Contribution: We incorporate conceptual insights from the life span variability and compression literature to better understand education–dementia disparities in both the postponement and uncertainty of dementia onset in the US population.

Keywords: education; dementia; lifespan variability; morbidity compression; modal age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol50/26/50-26.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:demres:v:50:y:2024:i:26

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2024.50.26

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Demographic Research from Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Editorial Office ().