How years of schooling and school quality relate to thinking skills and dementia risk
Genetic Differences in the Causal Effect of Education Quantity and Quality on Cognitive Functioning and Dementia Diagnosis Later in Life
This project looks at whether more years of school and better school quality help protect thinking skills and lower dementia risk later in life.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Southern California NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11391015 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You may be asked to have your schooling history, cognitive test results, health records, and genetic information used to study links between education and dementia. Researchers will compare groups affected by past changes in compulsory schooling and curriculum quality as natural experiments to mimic real-world before-and-after effects. They will combine those education measures with genetic data to tease apart the role of schooling itself from inherited factors that might confuse results. Large population databases and medical records will be used to connect education and genes to later-life thinking skills and dementia diagnoses.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants would be older adults with known schooling histories who can share medical records and genetic or biospecimen information for research use.
Not a fit: People without reliable education or health records, those too young to show later-life cognitive outcomes, or individuals with rare early-onset genetic dementias may not directly benefit from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could inform education and public-health policies that reduce dementia risk and narrow disparities in cognitive aging.
How similar studies have performed: Observational studies consistently link more education to lower dementia risk, but causal evidence is mixed and combining natural experiments with genetics is a newer approach.
Where this research is happening
Los Angeles, UNITED STATES
- University of Southern California — Los Angeles, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Barcellos, Silvia Helena — University of Southern California
- Study coordinator: Barcellos, Silvia Helena
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.