Reply to Ko, Null within-twin estimates on education and dementia: cautions for within-family contrasts

Eur J Epidemiol. 2025 Dec 13. doi: 10.1007/s10654-025-01312-y. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

We reply to the letter to the editor by Soohyeon Ko (Eur J Epidemiol, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-025-01305-x ) concerning our article by Walters et al. (Eur J Epidemiol, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-025-01286-x ). We reiterate that genetic explanations contribute to understanding why education is protective against dementia, alongside influences reflecting the whole of one’s family and societal context. We also caution that genetic explanations should not be misinterpreted as deterministic.

PMID:41389155 | DOI:10.1007/s10654-025-01312-y