Social contact, social support, and cognitive health in a population-based study of middle-aged and older men and women in rural South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several theories seek to explain how social connections and cognitive function are interconnected in older age. These include that social interaction protects against cognitive decline, that cognitive decline leads to shedding of social connections and that cognitive decline leads to increased instrumental support. We investigated how patterns of social contact, social support and cognitive health in rural South Africa fit with these three theories.

Method

We used data from the baseline of "Health and Aging in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH community in South Africa" (HAALSI), a population-based study of 5059 individuals aged ≥ 40 years. We evaluated how a range of egocentric social connectedness measures varied by respondents' cognitive function.

R

SUBMITTER: Harling G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7441312 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature