Low social engagement linked to cognitive decline & dementia risk

  • A very large, very long-running British study found that higher social contact at age 60 was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing dementia.
  • A 3-year study of older adults found that lower social engagement was only associated with greater cognitive decline in those with higher amyloid-beta levels.

Socially active 60-year-olds face lower dementia risk

Data from the Whitehall II study, tracking 10,228 participants for 30 years, found that increased social contact at age 60 is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing dementia later in life. Someone who saw friends almost daily at age 60 was 12% less likely to develop dementia than someone who only saw one or two friends every few months.

While previous studies have found a link between social contact and dementia risk, the long follow-up in the present study strengthens the evidence that social engagement could protect people from dementia (rather than precursors of dementia bringing about a decline in social engagement).

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/ucl-sa6073119.php

Low social engagement plus high amyloid linked to cognitive decline

A three-year study of 217 healthy older adults (63-89) enrolled in the Harvard Aging Brain Study, has found that higher amyloid-beta levels in combination with lower social engagement was associated with greater cognitive decline over three years. Lower social engagement wasn’t associated with cognitive decline in those with a lower amyloid-beta burden.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/bawh-scl062819.php

Reference: 

Sommerlad, A., Sabia, S., Singh-Manoux, A., Lewis, G., & Livingston, G. (2019). Association of social contact with dementia and cognition: 28-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study. PLOS Medicine, 16(8), e1002862. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002862

Biddle, K et al, "Social Engagement and Amyloid-b-Related Cognitive Decline in Cognitively Normal Older Adults." American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2019.05.005

Related News

Confirming earlier indications from small studies, a very large nationwide survey has found that people who have had cancer are 40% more likely to experience memory problems that interfere with daily functioning.

Recent rodent studies add to our understanding of how estrogen affects learning and memory.

Previous research has indicated that obesity in middle-age is linked to higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia in old age.

Inflammation in the brain appears to be a key contributor to age-related memory problems, and it may be that this has to do with the dysregulation of

A long-running study involving 1,157 healthy older adults (65+) who were scored on a 5-point scale according to how often they participated in mental activities such as listening to the radio, watching television, reading, playing games and going to a museum, has found that this score is correla

Confirming earlier research, a study involving 257 older adults (average age 75) has found that a two-minute questionnaire filled out by a close friend or family member is more accurate that standard cognitive tests in detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s.

Low levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, have been found in the brains of those with Alzheimer's disease, but the reason has not been known.

A review of brain imaging and occupation data from 588 patients diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia has found that among the dementias affecting those 65 years and younger, FTD is as common as Alzheimer's disease.

Findings from the long-running Religious Orders Study, from 354 Catholic nuns and priests who were given annual cognitive tests for up to 13 years before having their brains examined post-mortem, has revealed that even the very early cognitive impairments we regard as normal in aging are associa

Type 2 diabetes is known to increase the risk of cognitive impairment in old age.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.