9
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Social Isolation and Cognitive Function in Later Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

      research-article
      a , * , a , a , b , a , c , d , e
      ,
      Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
      IOS Press
      Aging, cognition, cognitive reserve, social isolation

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Background:

          There is some evidence to suggest that social isolation may be associated with poor cognitive function in later life. However, findings are inconsistent and there is wide variation in the measures used to assess social isolation.

          Objective:

          We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the association between social isolation and cognitive function in later life.

          Methods:

          A search for longitudinal studies assessing the relationship between aspects of social isolation (including social activity and social networks) and cognitive function (including global measures of cognition, memory, and executive function) was conducted in PsycInfo, CINAHL, PubMed, and AgeLine. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted to assess the overall association between measures of social isolation and cognitive function. Sub-analyses investigated the association between different aspects of social isolation and each of the measures of cognitive function.

          Results:

          Sixty-five articles were identified by the systematic review and 51 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Low levels of social isolation characterized by high engagement in social activity and large social networks were associated with better late-life cognitive function ( r = 0.054, 95% CI: 0.043, 0.065). Sub-analyses suggested that the association between social isolation and measures of global cognitive function, memory, and executive function were similar and there was no difference according to gender or number of years follow-up.

          Conclusions:

          Aspects of social isolation are associated with cognitive function in later life. There is wide variation in approaches to measuring social activity and social networks across studies which may contribute to inconsistencies in reported findings.

          Related collections

          Most cited references100

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          On the use of beta coefficients in meta-analysis.

          This research reports an investigation of the use of standardized regression (beta) coefficients in meta-analyses that use correlation coefficients as the effect-size metric. The investigation consisted of analyzing more than 1,700 corresponding beta coefficients and correlation coefficients harvested from published studies. Results indicate that, under certain conditions, using knowledge of corresponding beta coefficients to input missing correlations (effect sizes) generally produces relatively accurate and precise population effect-size estimates. Potential benefits from applying this knowledge include smaller sampling errors because of increased numbers of effect sizes and smaller non-sampling errors because of the inclusion of a broader array of research designs.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Social relationships and risk of dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.

            It is unclear to what extent poor social relationships are related to the development of dementia. A comprehensive systematic literature search identified 19 longitudinal cohort studies investigating the association between various social relationship factors and incident dementia in the general population. Relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Low social participation (RR: 1.41 (95% CI: 1.13-1.75)), less frequent social contact (RR: 1.57 (95% CI: 1.32-1.85)), and more loneliness (RR: 1.58 (95% CI: 1.19-2.09)) were statistically significant associated with incident dementia. The results of the association between social network size and dementia were inconsistent. No statistically significant association was found for low satisfaction with social network and the onset of dementia (RR: 1.25 (95% CI: 0.96-1.62). We conclude that social relationship factors that represent a lack of social interaction are associated with incident dementia. The strength of the associations between poor social interaction and incident dementia is comparable with other well-established risk factors for dementia, including low education attainment, physical inactivity, and late-life depression.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: found
              Is Open Access

              The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936: a study to examine influences on cognitive ageing from age 11 to age 70 and beyond

              Background Cognitive ageing is a major burden for society and a major influence in lowering people's independence and quality of life. It is the most feared aspect of ageing. There are large individual differences in age-related cognitive changes. Seeking the determinants of cognitive ageing is a research priority. A limitation of many studies is the lack of a sufficiently long period between cognitive assessments to examine determinants. Here, the aim is to examine influences on cognitive ageing between childhood and old age. Methods/Design The study is designed as a follow-up cohort study. The participants comprise surviving members of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 (SMS1947; N = 70,805) who reside in the Edinburgh area (Lothian) of Scotland. The SMS1947 applied a valid test of general intelligence to all children born in 1936 and attending Scottish schools in June 1947. A total of 1091 participants make up the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. They undertook: a medical interview and examination; physical fitness testing; extensive cognitive testing (reasoning, memory, speed of information processing, and executive function); personality, quality of life and other psycho-social questionnaires; and a food frequency questionnaire. They have taken the same mental ability test (the Moray House Test No. 12) at age 11 and age 70. They provided blood samples for DNA extraction and testing and other biomarker analyses. Here we describe the background and aims of the study, the recruitment procedures and details of numbers tested, and the details of all examinations. Discussion The principal strength of this cohort is the rarely captured phenotype of lifetime cognitive change. There is additional rich information to examine the determinants of individual differences in this lifetime cognitive change. This protocol report is important in alerting other researchers to the data available in the cohort.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Alzheimers Dis
                J. Alzheimers Dis
                JAD
                Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
                IOS Press (Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 BG Amsterdam, The Netherlands )
                1387-2877
                1875-8908
                24 October 2018
                13 August 2019
                2019
                : 70
                : Suppl 1 , International Research Network on Dementia Prevention
                : S119-S144
                Affiliations
                [a ] Centre for Research in Ageing and Cognitive Health (REACH), School of Psychology, University of Exeter , Exeter, UK
                [b ] Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge , Cambridge, UK
                [c ] University of Exeter Medical School , Exeter, UK
                [d ] Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter , Exeter, UK
                [e ] Centre for Research Excellence in Promoting Cognitive Health, University of New South Wales , Sydney, Australia
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence to: Isobel E.M. Evans, University of Exeter, St Lukes Campus, Heavitree Road, South Cloisters, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK. Tel.: +44 01392 726754; E-mail: i.evans@ 123456exeter.ac.uk .
                Article
                JAD180501
                10.3233/JAD-180501
                6700717
                30372678
                4c9a4892-6681-488b-aa2f-841e8e2c9493
                © 2019 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                Categories
                Research Article

                aging,cognition,cognitive reserve,social isolation
                aging, cognition, cognitive reserve, social isolation

                Comments

                Comment on this article