Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42005573›Full record

ArticleSSM - population health2026

Moderating effects of educational inequality on education polygenic scores, attained education and dementia-risk relationships.

Brian Karl Finch, Sneha Nimmagadda, Deborah Finkel, Margaret Gatz, Chandra A Reynolds, Marianne Nygaard, Vibeke Catts, Anbu Thalamuthu, Perminder Sachdev, Malin Ericsson and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in SSM - population health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Brian Karl FinchCenter for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, USA.
Sneha NimmagaddaCenter for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, USA.
Deborah FinkelCenter for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, USA.
Margaret GatzCenter for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, USA.
Chandra A ReynoldsDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.
Marianne NygaardDepartment of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Vibeke CattsCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Anbu ThalamuthuCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Perminder SachdevCentre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Malin EricssonDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Ida KarlssonDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Valgeir ThorvaldssonDepartment of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Linda HassingDepartment of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While education is among the most consistent predictors of cognitive health and dementia risk, it is unclear whether this reflects the benefits of schooling itself or other factors such as underlying genetic predispositions or family-based inequality. Further, the benefits of education to cognitive health may be dependent on larger structures of inequality. Using data from the IGEMS Consortium of over 4500 twins from seven cohorts in the USA, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia, we examine how genetic propensity for education and national/historical contexts of inequality shape dementia risk in later life. Dementia risk was measured with the Latent Dementia Index, a validated continuous indicator of likelihood of dementia, while key predictors included both attained education, a polygenic score for educational attainment (PGS-ED), and cohort- and country-specific Gini indices of educational inequality (GINI-ED). Ordinary least squares and within-between twin models were estimated to separate between-family from within-family effects. Results confirm that higher education is associated with lower likelihood of dementia; PGS-ED also predicts likelihood of dementia, although both associations are attenuated when comparing twins within families. Country-level educational inequality moderated these effects; education-and to a lesser extent PGS-ED-were stronger predictors of cognition in more egalitarian contexts. Our findings emphasize the interplay of both genes and social factors in potentially shaping dementia.

Identifiers

PMID42005573
PMCPMC13089079

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.