Autoregressive cross‐lagged modelling of the relationship between social activity, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function in Korean elderly

Abstract

Background This study aimed to verify the reciprocal relationship between social activity, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function in Korean elderly, utilizing data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (conducted by the Korea Employment Information Service biennially from 2006 to 2018). Methods The data of 5549 people aged 60 and over (mean age 70.27 years, standard deviation = 7.26) were used in the final analysis. Autoregressive cross‐lagged analysis was used to examine bidirectional relationships between the variables over time. Frequency of participation in social activities, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Korean version of the Mini‐Mental State Examination were used to measure social activity, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function. Results Results of the analysis were as follows. First, social activity was found to have a negative effect on depressive symptoms over time, but depressive symptoms did not affect social activity. Second, a bidirectional relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive function was identified. In other words, more depressive symptoms were related to lower cognitive function, and cognitive function had a negative impact on depressive symptoms over time. Third, social activity was found to positively affect cognitive function, but cognitive function did not affect social activity over time. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that social activity is closely related to depressive symptoms and cognitive function in the elderly, and suggests that social activity can be a key preventive factor for depression and cognitive impairment in this population.

Association Between Social Participation and Cognitive Function in Community-Dwelling Adults

“…Our results strengthened the evidence of the cross-lagged effect of social activities on cognitive function found in a previous study, which used the same panel data (i.e., KloSA; Bae, 2021). Furthermore, we found that social participation had effects on cognitive function even after controlling for unmeasured time-invariant variables.…”

“…Furthermore, we found that social participation had effects on cognitive function even after controlling for unmeasured time-invariant variables. In addition, the effect of social participation as a protective factor for the cognitive decline was confirmed in this study, the main difference being that the participants in this study had a mean age of 58.81 ± 9.09 years and were younger than those in a previous study (mean age, 70.27 ± 7.26 years;Bae, 2021).…”

“…One explanation is that the dichotomous measure of social participation that we used is not sensitive to subtle changes in social participation over time. However, another study that also used the KLoSA could not detect a statistically significant lagged effect of cognitive function on social activity, although social activity was measured with frequency and type of social participation in the study (Bae, 2021). This could mean that other factors that were not considered within cross-lagged modeling should be considered other than how to measure the construct of social participation.…”

The association between social engagement and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: A longitudinal subgroup identification analysis under causal inference frame

“…Preventing DS is an important prerequisite for improving the quality of life, especially for middle-aged and senior citizens. Published studies indicated that SE was closely related to DS and could act as a key factor in the prevention of DS (Solomonov et al, 2019 ; Bae, 2021 ). Results of previously published studies indicated that there were differences in the preventive effects of SE on depression in people with different characteristics (Min et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Since SE is associated with a low risk of DS, promotion of SE can provide a protective effect of preventing and mitigating the initiation and progression of DS at the lowest cost (Solomonov et al, 2019 ; Bae, 2021 ). However, as the studies mentioned above, the effect of SE is not homogenous for all subgroups of people.…”