Loneliness, social isolation, and effects on cognitive decline in patients with dementia: A retrospective cohort study using natural language processing.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The study aimed to compare cognitive trajectories between patients with reports of social isolation and loneliness and those without.

Methods

Reports of social isolation, loneliness, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores were extracted from dementia patients' medical records using natural language processing models and analyed using mixed-effects models.

Results

Lonely patients (n = 382), compared to controls (n = 3912), showed an average MoCA score that was 0.83 points lower at diagnosis (P = 0.008) and throughout the disease. Socially isolated patients (n = 523) experienced a 0.21 MoCA point per year faster rate of cognitive decline in the 6 months before diagnosis (P = 0.029), but were comparable to controls

SUBMITTER: Myers JAC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12301694 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul-Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature