From Paul Holt, Pitlochry, Perth and Kinross, UK
There is an alternative explanation other than extra education for the reduced incidence of dementia in UK adults born four years after the cut-off birth date for the 1972 increase in the school-leaving age, from 15 to 16, compared with those born four years prior (15 March, p 14).
The older cohort were born in 1952 and the younger cohort in 1960. Post-war austerity probably affected the health of the older group (and their mothers during conception and pregnancy) because of poor nutrition and housing. Rationing in the UK didn’t totally end until 1954, and the Clean Air Act in 1956 will also have benefited the younger group. These factors could also help account for the higher socioeconomic status of the 1960 group, which tends to correlate with better overall health.
