Socially active 60-year-olds face lower dementia risk

August 2, 2019

Science Daily/University College London

Being more socially active in your 50s and 60s predicts a lower risk of developing dementia later on, finds a new UCL-led study.

The longitudinal study, published in PLOS Medicine, reports the most robust evidence to date that social contact earlier in life could play an important role in staving off dementia.

"Dementia is a major global health challenge, with one million people expected to have dementia in the UK by 2021, but we also know that one in three cases are potentially preventable," said the study's lead author, Dr Andrew Sommerlad (UCL Psychiatry).

"Here we've found that social contact, in middle age and late life, appears to lower the risk of dementia. This finding could feed into strategies to reduce everyone's risk of developing dementia, adding yet another reason to promote connected communities and find ways to reduce isolation and loneliness."

The research team used data from the Whitehall II study, tracking 10,228 participants who had been asked on six occasions between 1985 and 2013 about their frequency of social contact with friends and relatives. The same participants also completed cognitive testing from 1997 onwards, and researchers referred to the study subjects' electronic health records up until 2017 to see if they were ever diagnosed with dementia.

For the analysis, the research team focused on the relationships between social contact at age 50, 60 and 70, and subsequent incidence of dementia, and whether social contact was linked to cognitive decline, after accounting for other factors such as education, employment, marital status and socioeconomic status.

The researchers found that increased social contact at age 60 is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing dementia later in life. The analysis showed that 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.

They found similarly strong associations between social contact at ages 50 and 70 and subsequent dementia; while those associations did not reach statistical significance, the researchers say that social contact at any age may well have a similar impact on reducing dementia risk.

Social contact in mid to late life was similarly correlated with general cognitive measures.

Previous studies have found a link between social contact and dementia risk, but they did not have such long follow-up times, so they could not rule out the possibility that the beginnings of cognitive decline may have been causing people to see fewer people, rather than the other way around. The long follow-up in the present study strengthens the evidence that social engagement could protect people from dementia in the long run.

The researchers say there are a few explanations for how social contact could reduce dementia risk.

"People who are socially engaged are exercising cognitive skills such as memory and language, which may help them to develop cognitive reserve -- while it may not stop their brains from changing, cognitive reserve could help people cope better with the effects of age and delay any symptoms of dementia," said senior author Professor Gill Livingston (UCL Psychiatry).

"Spending more time with friends could also be good for mental wellbeing, and may correlate with being physically active, both of which can also reduce the risk of developing dementia," added Professor Livingston, who previously led a major international study outlining the lifecourse factors that affect dementia risk.

The researchers were supported by Wellcome and the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, while the Whitehall II study is supported by the US National Institutes of Health, UK Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation.

The study was conducted by researchers in UCL Psychiatry, UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust and Inserm.

Dr Kalpa Kharicha, Head of Innovation, Policy and Research at the Campaign to End Loneliness, said: "We welcome these findings that show the benefits of frequent social contact in late/middle age on dementia risk. As we found in our Be More Us Campaign, almost half of UK adults say that their busy lives stop them from connecting with other people. It's important we make changes to our daily lives to ensure we take the time to connect with others. We need more awareness of the benefits that social wellbeing and connectedness can have to tackle social isolation, loneliness and reduce dementia risk."

Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer's Society, said: "There are many factors to consider before we can confirm for definite whether social isolation is a risk factor or an early sign of the condition -- but this study is a step in the right direction. We are proud of supporting work which helps us understand the condition better -- it is only through research that we can understand true causes of dementia and how best to prevent it.

"As the number of people in the UK with dementia is set to rise to one million by 2021, we must do what we can to reduce our risk -- so along with reducing your alcohol intake and stopping smoking, we encourage people across the country to get out into the sunshine, and do something active with family and friends.

"The Government's recent emphasis on health prevention is a welcome opportunity to reduce the risk of dementia across society. We now need to see Ministers prioritise better support initiatives to help people reduce the risk of dementia, and look forward to seeing this when the results of the Green Paper on Prevention are published later in the year."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190802144414.htm

Poll shows many older adults, especially those with health issues, feel isolated

Physical and mental health issues, hearing problems, and poor diet, exercise and sleep all linked to feeling isolated

March 4, 2019

Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

One in four older adults say they feel isolated from other people at least some of the time, and one in three say they lack regular companionship, according to a new national poll. Those feelings of loneliness showed up most in people aged 50 to 80 who also reported they had health issues and unhealthy habits. The findings amplify research showing links between chronic loneliness and health issues ranging from memory loss to shorter lives.

Those feelings of loneliness showed up most in people aged 50 to 80 who also reported they had health issues and unhealthy habits, the poll shows. The new findings amplify research that has shown links between chronic loneliness and health issues ranging from memory loss to shorter lives.

In the new poll, people who said they had fair or poor physical health, mental health, or hearing loss were more likely to report that they felt isolated or lacked companions.

Meanwhile, people who said they ate healthy diets, exercised, got enough sleep or didn't use tobacco were less likely to report feelings of loneliness.

The new findings come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, and sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

"More than a quarter of poll respondents said they only had social contact once a week, or less, with family members they don't live with, or with friends and neighbors," says Erica Solway, Ph.D., the co-director of the poll and a social science researcher. "These results indicate the importance of proactively reaching out to those in your community who may be at risk of feeling isolated and disconnected, especially those with or at risk of health issues."

Poll director Preeti Malani, M.D., who has training in caring for older adults, notes that a growing body of research points to strong connections between health and loneliness -- and to positive effects on health from increased social contact through volunteering, taking part in religious or community groups, and other activities.

"As we grow older, and mobility or hearing becomes more of a barrier, these poll data show the importance of maintaining and strengthening our ties to other people," says Malani. "It also suggests that caregivers, spouses and partners, adult children and others involved in older adults' lives have a role to play in encouraging and facilitating these connections."

"We know that social isolation and loneliness are as bad for our health as obesity and smoking," says Alison Bryant, Ph.D., senior vice president of research for AARP. "AARP's own research shows that older adults who are unpaid caregivers, are low-income, or that identify as LGBT are at an increased risk for chronic loneliness. This is such an important public health issue that AARP Foundation launched Connect2Affect to help combat isolation and loneliness among older adults."

Other key findings

The poll explored many aspects of social connection and health and asked about feelings of companionship, feelings of social isolation, and social contact among people age 50 to 80. It found:

·     Those who were unemployed, lived in lower-income households, lived alone and/or had one or more children living with them were more likely to say they lacked companionship

·     Living alone was highly associated with feeling lonely; 60 percent of those who lived alone reported feeling a lack of companionship, and 41 percent felt isolated

·     36 percent of women said they lacked companionship often or some of the time, compared with 31 percent of men

·     26 percent of adults who said they lacked companionship also said they were in fair or poor physical health, while 13 percent of people who said they hardly ever lacked companionship reported fair or poor physical health

·     Of those who reported feeling isolated, 17 percent had fair/poor mental health, compared to only 2 percent of those who hardly ever felt isolated.

·     One in five respondents who reported feeling socially isolated said they had fair or poor hearing compared to about one in 10 of those who said they hardly ever feel isolated.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190304095901.htm