UC Davis

OBJECTIVE: The role of spousal education on dementia risk and how it may differ by gender or race/ethnicity is unknown. This study examines the association between one's own education separate from and in conjunction with spousal education and risk of dementia. DESIGN: Cohort. SETTING: Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), an integrated health care delivery system. PARTICIPANTS: 8835 members of KPNC who were aged 40-55, married and reported own and spousal education in 1964-1973. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Dementia cases were identified through medical records from 1 January 1996 to 30 September 2017. METHODS: Own and spousal education was self-reported in 1964-1973 and each was classified as four indicator variables (≤high school, trade school/some college, college degree and postgraduate) and as ≥college degree versus spousal education≥college degree=0.83 (95% CI: 0.76 to 0.90); adjusting for participant education HR_{spousal education≥college degree}=0.92 (95% CI: 0.83 to 1.01)). These associations did not vary by gender or race/ethnicity. CONCLUSION: In a large diverse cohort, we found that higher levels of participant's own education were associated with lower dementia risk regardless of spousal education. An inverse association between spousal education and dementia risk was also present, however, the effects became non-significant after adjusting for participant education.