# Extra school year after UK 1972 reform reduced dementia risk in a cohort of over 100,000 people

- Published: 2026-11-05 15:10 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: dementia risk, education and dementia, UK school reform 1972, Alzheimer's disease, UK Biobank, genetic risk of dementia, cohort study
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-d26b74337a413aa330c6b269_extra_school_year/

**US researchers used the 1972 UK school-leaving age change and UK Biobank data; they report that extra schooling lowered Alzheimer's and dementia risk, most for those with inherited risk.**

![Extra school year after UK 1972 reform reduced dementia risk in a cohort of over 100,000 people](https://sgzwpqqelzmajkcubgkl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/rt-media/2026/11/8b718856ff85c268.jpg)
*Harrison Keely, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0*

Researchers from universities in Southern California, Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan report causal evidence that longer schooling lowers the risk of dementia decades later, according to Lomazoma. The results were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The team followed more than 100,000 people up to the age of 66. [1]

## Natural experiment: the 1972 reform

In 1972 Britain changed the compulsory schooling rule: young people had to stay in school until their 16th birthday instead of their 15th, across all social classes. This produced two large population cohorts that differed in almost nothing except the length of schooling. The reform raised the number of pupils who stayed in school until at least age 16 by 14 percent. [1]

The authors followed people born shortly before or after the reform cut-off date of 1 September 1957. For the analysis they used hospital records, death registers and self-reported medical histories collected within the UK Biobank project. [1]

## Genetic risk and open questions

According to the authors, additional schooling reduced the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The protective effect was especially strong in people with an inherited higher risk of dementia. Longer schooling reduced dementia incidence even among people with the highest genetic risk factors. [1]

Lead author Silvia Barcellos, a health economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the school reform made it possible to separate the effect of education from many other factors. Co-author Leandro Carvalho of the University of California said the results suggest that experiences and circumstances that change over a lifetime may influence whether an inherited susceptibility becomes a disease. [1]

The mechanism is not yet clear. Better schooling is associated with career opportunities, higher income and more cognitively stimulating work, and it can change social conditions. In the studied cohort, later household income rose with longer schooling, while the incidence of strokes and heart attacks fell. The data did not allow the researchers to determine which of these mechanisms was decisive. [1]

The authors also note that the size of the protective effect is still unclear. At about 65 years the studied group is comparatively young, and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias increases with age. More informative results are expected in the coming years. [1]

## Sources

1. [Lomazoma](https://lomazoma.com/demenz-forscher-entdecken-jahrzehnte-spaeter-erstmals-was-das-gehirn-schuetzt)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-d26b74337a413aa330c6b269_extra_school_year/