Educational attainment and motor burden in Parkinson's disease. Issue 8 (10th June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kotagal, Vikas; Bohnen, Nicolaas I.; Müller, Martijn L.T.M.; Koeppe, Robert A.; Frey, Kirk A.; Langa, Kenneth M.; Albin, Roger L.
• Is Part Of: Movement disorders. Volume 30:Issue 8(2015)
• Page Start: 1143
• Page End: 1147
• Publication Date: 2015-06-10
• Subjects: Movement disorders -- Periodicals; 610
• DOI: 10.1002/mds.26272
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0885-3185

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <sec id="mds26272-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>Greater educational attainment is a protective factor for neurodegenerative dementias. If education earlier in life leads to greater cerebral reserve, it may play a similar protective role in Parkinson's disease (PD).</p> </sec> <sec id="mds26272-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>We conducted a cross‐sectional clinical imaging study of 142 subjects with PD. All subjects underwent [<sup>11</sup>C]dihydrotetrabenazine PET to confirm nigrostriatal dopaminergic denervation and brain MRI to estimate adjusted cortical gray matter volume (GMV).</p> </sec> <sec id="mds26272-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>After adjusting for possible confounders, including cognitive and dopaminergic covariates, as well as nonspecific neurodegeneration covariates (age, disease duration, and total adjusted cortical GMV), lower years of education remained a significant predictor of higher total MDS‐UPDRS motor score (t = −3.28; <italic>P</italic> = 0.001). Education level associated inversely with white matter (WM) hyperintensities in a post‐hoc analysis (n = 83).</p> </sec> <sec id="mds26272-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Higher educational attainment is associated with lower severity of motor impairment in PD. This association may reflect an extranigral protective effect upon WM integrity.</p> </sec> </abstract>