Educational Level Influences Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

We tested the hypothesis that educational level influences regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The severity of AD was measured with the Cognitive Ability Screening Instrument (age and education adjusted). rCBF was assessed using (99m)Tc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime brain SPECT; differences in rCBF between groups with different educational levels were determined using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). In matched low-education (< or =6 y; n = 29) and high-education (>6 y; n = 29) groups, SPM revealed 2 statistically significant clusters of voxels with higher rCBF in the high-education group: one in the left lateral inferior, middle, and superior temporal gyrus; another in the left medial temporal area to the left inferior frontal gyrus. We provide biologic evidence that education may lead to relatively higher rCBF in specific areas in AD patients, which may explain the effects of education on clinical manifestations of AD.