Association of Low Emotional and Tangible Support With Risk of Dementia Among Adults 60 Years and Older in South Korea

Abstract

Key Points Question Are low levels of social support associated with risk of dementia in older adults? Findings In this cohort study of 5852 adults 60 years and older, low emotional support was associated with an increased risk of dementia; however, low tangible support was not. Low emotional support was associated with a 61% increased risk of all-cause dementia and a 66% increased risk of Alzheimer disease in women but not in men. Meaning These findings suggest that older women with low emotional support should be considered a vulnerable population at risk for dementia and be provided with sufficient empathetic understanding and listening as well as material aid or behavioral assistance.

The Association Between Emotional Expressivity in Autobiographies from Early Adulthood and the Risk of Dementia in the Context of Written Language Skills

“…For example, the emotional expressivity score may reveal the emotional qualities of an individual, such as emotional tendencies (e.g., positive/negative), lived experiences, emotional intelligence, or ability to regulate expression of emotions to match the context of the written assignment. These factors may be associated with dementia through various mechanisms, including cognitive processes, stress or high reactivity, emotional intelligence, and emotional regulation [ 5, 47–49 ]. Given that many of these factors are potentially modifiable, the mechanism underlying the association between emotional expressivity and dementia is worthy of further investigation.…”

Explainable Artificial Intelligence on Social Support, Poor Self-Rated Health and Dementia

“…Existing literature reports inconsistent results on social support and dementia [16][17][18]. A retrospective cohort study adopted 355 elderly Americans and linear regression to find that a positive association exists between perceived emotional support and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status score (cognitive function) in women only [16].…”

Social participation and risk of developing dementia

“…However, studies of UK adults found that loneliness was not independently associated with dementia risk and that the unadjusted association was probably mediated by depression symptoms 42,43 . Reporting less social support was also unrelated to dementia risk in a systematic review 38 , although a recent study of Korean adults with 10 years of follow-up found low emotional, but not practical, support was associated with elevated risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease in women, but not men 51 . The inconsistency in these findings may be due to measurement error because few of the included studies used validated scales measuring loneliness; cultural variation in conceptualization and expression of loneliness; duration and perceived intensity of loneliness exposure; and differences in studies' adjustment for potentially explanatory covariates especially social isolation, socioeconomic status and depression.…”