Social isolation may accelerate cognitive decline later in life, reported a new study published in The Journals of Gerontology.
“As Alzheimer’s is a leading cause of death for older adults in the UK/US, constructing the scaffolding to allow for regular social interaction, especially for those who mayn’t have family or friends nearby, should be a public health priority,” said lead author of the study and senior lecturer at St Andrew’s School of Geography and Sustainable Development, Scotland, in a press release.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study including over 30, 000 individuals with almost 138,000 observations between 2004 and 2018. Data included measures of social isolation, loneliness, and cognitive function. They defined social isolation as the objective measure of how much an individual is isolated from others, while loneliness was the subjective feeling of discrepancy between desired and actual social connections.
From their analyses, they found that social isolation has a negative causal effect on cognitive function, and that loneliness could only explain 6% of the effect- 8% for men and 5% for women. They further found that reducing social isolation had a protective effect on cognitive function for all subpopulations, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, and educational level.
In their study, the researchers wrote that targeting social isolation among those living alone may be a viable public health strategy for protecting against cognitive decline. To this end, they noted that focusing only on interventions to manage loneliness, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, would be insufficient.
“Social isolation and loneliness must be understood as 'distinct targets for interventions' and, as such, policymakers must continue to invest resources in the reduction of isolation amongst older adults,” they wrote in their study.
“These findings highlight the need for investigation into additional mechanisms that may explain the link between social isolation and cognitive health, pointing towards a multifaceted approach to understanding and mitigating the risks associated with social isolation,” they concluded.
Sources: EurekAlert, The Journals of Gerontology
