Participant education, spousal education and dementia risk in a diverse cohort of members of an integrated health care delivery system in Northern California

Abstract

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