Low childhood IQ may cause dementia

Low IQ in childhood may make one more vulnerable to developing a common form of dementia in old age. Vascular dementia that results in vascular lesions in the brain is the second most common form of dementia, after Alzheimer's disease. To explore the origins of dementia, researchers in Scotland looked at the school records of 173 men and women, all of who were born in 1921. Each had participated in a standardized survey of mental health and ability conducted they were about 11 years old. All the patients had been diagnosed with some form of dementia at some point after the age of 65. Almost half of the dementia cases were classified as Alzheimer's disease and 19 percent were diagnosed with vascular dementia, while close to 5 percent were a mix of the two. Childhood test results among the dementia patients were compared with results for two additional groups of healthy patients of similar ages, genders, birth locations, and parental occupations. It was found that patients with vascular dementia had significantly lower scores in terms of mental and cognitive ability than the healthy patient groups. Having a higher IQ test score at the age of 11 years was associated with a significantly lower risk for vascular dementia. No such association was found for Alzheimer's disease. The findings concluded that lower cognitive ability is a risk factor for vascular dementia, but not Alzheimer's disease. This could help experts reassess their approach in preventing dementia.

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