Individuals with more education are at lower risk of developing multiple, different age-related diseases than their less educated peers. A reason for this might be that individuals with more education age slower. There are two complications in testing this hypothesis. First, there exists no definitive measure of biological aging. Second, shared genetic factors contribute towards both lower educational attainment and the development of age-related diseases. Here, we tested whether the protective effect of educational attainment was associated with the pace of aging after accounting for genetic factors.
We examined data from five studies together totaling almost 17,000 individuals with European ancestry born in different countries during different historical periods, ranging in age from 16 to 98 years old. To assess the pace of aging, we used DunedinPACE, a DNA methylation algorithm that reflects an individual's rate of aging and predicts age-related decline and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD). To assess genetic factors related to education we created a polygenic score (PGS) based on results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment.
Across the five studies, and across the lifespan, higher educational attainment was associated with a slower pace of aging even after accounting for genetic factors (meta-analysis effect size=-0.20, 95%CI[-0.30- -0.10]; p-value = 0.006). Further, this effect persisted after taking into account tobacco smoking (meta-analysis effect size=-0.13, 95%CI[-0.21- -0.05]; p-value = 0.01).
These results indicate that higher levels of education have positive effects on the pace of aging, and that the benefits can be realized irrespective of individuals' genetics.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 13. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 April 2023.
All research outputs
#3,706,727
of 34,404,538 outputs
Outputs from Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences
#688
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Outputs of similar age
#57,858
of 446,093 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences
#9
of 40 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,404,538 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 89th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,677 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 23.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 446,093 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 40 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
