Chloe Eng

All Publications

• State-Level Indicators of Childhood Educational Quality and Incident Dementia in Older Black and White Adults. JAMA neurology Soh, Y., Whitmer, R. A., Mayeda, E. R., Glymour, M. M., Peterson, R. L., Eng, C. W., Quesenberry, C. P., Manly, J. J., Gilsanz, P. 2023

  Abstract

  Higher educational attainment is associated with reduced dementia risk, but the role of educational quality is understudied, presenting a major evidence gap, especially as it may contribute to racial inequities.To evaluate the association between state-level educational quality during childhood and dementia risk.This cohort study analyzed longitudinal data collected from January 1, 1997, through December 31, 2019 (23-year follow-up period). The sample comprised members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), a large integrated health care delivery system, who completed an optional survey during 1964-1972. Eligible individuals were US born; non-Hispanic Black or non-Hispanic White; aged 65 years or older as of January 1, 1996; were still alive; and did not have a dementia diagnosis or lapse in KPNC membership greater than 90 days between January 1 and December 31, 1996.Historical state-level administrative indicators of school quality (school term length, student-teacher ratio, and attendance rates) linked to participants using birth state and birth year (with a 6-year lag) and divided into tertiles using the pooled sample.Dementia diagnoses from electronic health records between 1997 and 2019 were analyzed between March 1 and August 31, 2022. The associations of educational quality with incident dementia were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.Among 21 450 KPNC members who participated in the optional survey, individuals born before availability of educational quality records (n = 87) and missing educational attainment (n = 585) were excluded. The final analytic sample was 20 778 individuals (56.5% women, 43.5% men; mean [SD] age, 74.7 [6.5] years; 18.8% Black; 81.2% White; 41.0% with less than high school education). Among Black individuals, 76.2% to 86.1% (vs 20.8%-23.3% of White individuals) attended schools in states in the lowest educational quality tertiles. Highest (vs lowest) educational quality tertiles were associated with lower dementia risk (student-teacher ratio: hazard ratio [HR], 0.88 [95% CI, 0.83-0.94]; attendance rates: HR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.73-0.88]; term length: HR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.73-0.86]). Effect estimates did not differ by race and were not attenuated by adjustment for educational attainment.In this cohort study, lower state-average educational quality was more common among Black individuals and associated with higher dementia risk. Differential investment in high-quality education due to structural racism may contribute to dementia disparities.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.5337

  View details for PubMedID 36780143

• Mother's education and late-life disparities in memory and dementia risk among US military veterans and non-veterans JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH Vable, A. M., Eng, C. W., Mayeda, E., Basu, S., Marden, J. R., Hamad, R., Glymour, M. 2018; 72 (12): 1162-1167

  View details for DOI 10.1136/jech-2018-210771

  View details for Web of Science ID 000451282500015

• Mother's education and late-life disparities in memory and dementia risk among US military veterans and non-veterans. Journal of epidemiology and community health Vable, A. M., Eng, C. W., Mayeda, E. R., Basu, S., Marden, J. R., Hamad, R., Glymour, M. M. 2018

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood socioeconomic status (cSES) predicts higher late-life risk of memory loss and dementia. Veterans of U.S. wars are eligible for educational and economic benefits that may offset cSES disadvantage. We test whether cSES disparities in late-life memory and dementia are smaller among veterans than non-veterans.METHODS: Data came from US-born men in the 1995-2014 biennial surveys of the Health and Retirement Study (n=7916 born 1928-1956, contributing n=38381cognitive assessments). Childhood SES was represented by maternal education. Memory and dementia risk were assessed with brief neuropsychological assessments and proxy reports. Military service (veteran/non-veteran) was evaluated as a modifier of the effect of maternal education on memory and dementia risk. We employed linear or logistic regression models to test whether military service modified the effect of maternal education on memory or dementia risk, adjusted for age, race, birthplace and childhood health.RESULTS: Low maternal education was associated with worse memory than high maternal education (beta = -0.07SD, 95% CI -0.08 to -0.05), while veterans had better memory than non-veterans (beta = 0.03SD, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.04). In interaction analyses, maternal education disparities in memory were smaller among veterans than non-veterans (difference in disparities = 0.04SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.08, p = 0.006). Patterns were similar for dementia risk.CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in memory by maternal education were smaller among veterans than non-veterans, suggesting military service and benefits partially offset the deleterious effects of low maternal education on late-life cognitive outcomes.

  View details for PubMedID 30082424