{"doi":"10.1093/geroni/igaf023","title":"The Impact of Later-Life Learning on Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among U.S. Older Adults","abstract":"Abstract Background and Objectives Low education in early life is a major risk factor for dementia. However, little is known about how education in later life is related to cognitive function in older adults. We assessed whether later-life learning was associated with better cognitive function over time and whether the associations differed by sex, race/ethnicity, and prior education. Research Design and Methods We used data from the 2008–2018 Health and Retirement Study, including participants aged 65+ without baseline dementia and followed for up to 6 years. Global cognition was measured using a summary score. Later-life learning was measured at every wave at least once a month or more, not in the last month, or never. Results Of 12 099 participants, 10.2% attended an educational or training course “at least once a month or more,” 45.5% reported “not in the last month,” and 43.3% reported “never” at each wave of the study. Results from adjusted mixed-effects models showed that engaging in any later-life learning, either at least once a month (0.56 points higher, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.40–0.73) or not in the last month (0.55 points higher, 95% CI = 0.45–0.65) was associated with better cognitive function compared to never engaging in these activities. The association remained consistent as people aged. The benefits of later-life learning on cognitive function were greater in women than in men—at least once a month versus never was 0.30 points greater in women than men (95% CI = −0.03 to 0.63, p = .0760); not in the last month versus never was 0.24 points greater in women than men (95% CI = 0.04–0.43, p = .016). There were no significant differences by race/ethnicity or prior education. Discussion and Implications Later-life learning was associated with better cognitive function over time. These findings underscore the importance of continued learning among older adults.","journal":"Innovation in Aging","year":2025,"id":519164,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9041,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":673679,"name":"Hanzhang Xu","orcid":"0000-0001-9617-247X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":725585,"name":"Radha Dhingra","orcid":"0000-0003-1921-9136","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425748,"name":"Ying Xian","orcid":"0000-0002-1237-1162","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1090304,"name":"Eleanor S. McConnell","orcid":"0000-0002-2896-8596","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":432522,"name":"Bei Wu","orcid":"0000-0002-6891-244X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":432203,"name":"Matthew E. Dupre","orcid":"0000-0002-0976-4715","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1152888,"name":"Nan Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-2431-5969","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":39,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:49:14.184995Z","pmid":"40386023","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}