People with more education may recover better from brain injury

New research suggests that people with more education recover significantly better from serious head injuries.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that adults with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries who had earned at least an undergraduate degree were more than seven times as likely to completely recover from their injury than those who didn’t finish high school.

The research focused on how “cognitive reserve” — the brain’s ability to maintain function despite damage — affects recovery from traumatic brain injury. The results echo previous research in Alzheimer’s dementia suggesting that more years of education, believed to lead to more effective brain use and greater cognitive reserve, slows progression of symptoms.  Read more here.