Table 1.

Role of education in sex differences in cognitive performance, stratified by birth cohort

		Age 50 years		Age 60 years		Age 70 years
		Base model	Base model adjusted for education	Base model	Base model adjusted for education	Base model	Base model adjusted for education
Memory
Birth cohort
	1930–38	..	..	−0·10 (−0·16 to −0·03)	−0·25 (−0·32 to −0·19)	−0·13 (−0·18 to −0·09)	−0·26 (−0·30 to −0·21)
	1939–45	..	..	−0·12 (−0·16 to −0·07)	−0·21 (−0·26 to −0·17)	−0·20 (−0·26 to −0·15)	−0·29 (−0·34 to −0·24)
	1946–55	−0·06 (−0·12 to −0·01)	−0·14 (−0·20 to −0·09)	−0·17 (−0·22 to −0·13)	−0·25 (−0·29 to −0·21)	−0·29 (−0·35 to −0·23)	−0·36 (−0·42 to −0·29)
p value for sex difference by birth cohort		..	..	0·070	0·47	0·0004	0·031
Fluency
Birth cohort
	1930–38	..	..	0·19 (0·08 to 0·31)	0·03 (−0·09 to 0·15)	0·18 (0·13 to 0·23)	0·04 (−0·01 to 0·09)
	1939–45	..	..	0·10 (0·04 to 0·15)	−0·02 (−0·07 to 0·03)	0·03 (−0·02 to 0·08)	−0·07 (−0·12 to −0·02)
	1946–55	0·06 (−0·01 to 0·13)	−0·04 (−0·11 to 0·03)	0·00 (−0·05 to 0·05)	−0·09 (−0·14 to −0·05)	−0·01 (−0·11 to 0·08)	−0·08 (−0·18 to 0·01)
p value for sex difference by birth cohort		..	..	0·0018	0·034	<0·0001	0·0015

Data are mean difference between sexes in SDs (95% CI), or p values. Positive SD values indicate men had better scores; negative values indicate women had better scores. Base models included sex, sex by age, age², age³, birth cohort, sex by birth cohort, birth cohort by age, sex by birth cohort by age, ethnicity, and practice effect. Memory models additionally included birth cohort by age³ and lower-order interactions. Fluency models additionally included practice effect by sex and birth cohort by sex by age² and lower-order interactions.