Social isolation, social support, and loneliness and their relationship with cognitive health and dementia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Poor social health is prevalent in older adults and may be associated with worse cognition, and increased dementia risk. The aim of this study was to determine whether social isolation, social support and loneliness are independently associated with cognitive function and incident dementia over 5 years in older adults, and to investigate potential gender differences.

Methods

Participants were 11,498 community-dwelling relatively healthy Australians aged 70-94, in the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP). Social isolation, social support, loneliness and cognitive function were assessed through self-report. Outcomes examined were cognitive decline (>1.5 SD decline in cognitive performance since baseline) and incident dementia (adjudicated according to

SUBMITTER: Joyce J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9068834 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature