A number of recent population-based studies from high-income countries around the world have found declines in the prevalence or incidence of significant cognitive impairment or dementia over the last 25 years. Recent attention has been paid to the potential contribution of educational achievement in both lower-income and higher-income countries in the last 40 years to this decline as well as potential reduction in AD that might be achieved by improved access to education. It is important to know the implications of trends in educational attainment for future trends in the prevalence and incidence of dementia/AD for patients, families, and society. Understanding the extent to which rising levels of education accounts for the decline in dementia risk not only helps researchers better model and estimate the future AD and dementia burden in the US and worldwide, but it also points to opportunities for public health interventions to reduce AD. The Committee on Population (CPOP) proposes to conduct a one-day expert meeting on the Effect of Education on Recent Dementia Trends. The expert meeting will be held in Washington, DC, and will address the following issues/questions: 1) Consider the evidence for a significant contribution of increasing educational attainment to the decline in cognitive impairment/dementia observed in the literature; 2) How does education contribute to declines in the age-specific risk of dementia? 3) What are the implications for future trends in the prevalence and incidence of dementia/AD for patients, families, society? 4) What are the current ?best practices? for the treatment of population stratification effects in comparative analyses?
