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Behavioural brain reserve is a property of the central nervous system related to sustained and complex mental activity which can lead to differential expression of brain injury. Behavioural brain reserve has been assessed using autobiographical data such as education levels, occupational complexity and mentally stimulating lifestyle pursuits. So far there have been several epidemiological reports but no systematic review to put conflicting results into context. Our aim was to quantitatively review evidence for the effect of brain reserve on incident dementia.

Cohort studies of the effects of education, occupation, premorbid IQ and mental activities on dementia risk were of interest. Abstracts were identified in MEDLINE (1966–September 2004), CURRENT CONTENTS (to September, 2004), PsychINFO (1984–September 2004), Cochrane Library Databases and reference lists from relevant articles …