Internet use in old age predicts smaller cognitive decline only in men

Abstract

internet use provides cognitive stimulation and thereby may contribute to the accumulation of cognitive reserve that is proposed to be instrumental for maintaining cognitive health in ageing. As the first study so far, we examined possible gender differences in the relationship between Internet use and subsequent cognitive decline over six years assessed through changes in Trail Making Test (TMT) accomplishment time in 897 older adults. Latent change score modelling (taking into account baseline cognitive level, chronic diseases, age, and central contributions to cognitive reserve through education, profession, and leisure engagement) revealed a significant interaction of frequency of Internet use and gender. More frequent Internet use in the first wave of data collection significantly predicted a smaller subsequent augmentation in TMT accomplishment time (i.e., a smaller subsequent cognitive decline) only in men, but not in women. In conclusion, frequent Internet use may contribute to the accumulation of cognitive reserve. The gender difference noted highlights an advantage for males. While this finding could be interpreted as gender-specific, it may be that the Internet activities males engage in differ from those of females, calling for a fine-grained investigation of Internet-based activities in future studies.

Associations Between Mobile Health Technology use and Self-rated Quality of Life: A Cross-sectional Study on Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment

“…Regarding gender differences in technology use, research shows that men are more likely to use and access various types of information and communication technology (ICT) than women are ( Kim et al, 2017 ). Research also shows that internet use in old age predicts a smaller cognitive decline only in men ( Ihle et al, 2020 ). Nevertheless, research on the gender differences in mHealth technology use among older adults with cognitive impairment is still limited.…”

Solving the Puzzle of Cognitive Reserve Effects on Cognitive Decline: The Importance of Considering Functional Impairment

“…Using latent change score modeling, we modeled latent cognitive factors of TMT completion time in W1 (constructed from TMT parts A and B in W1) and W2 (constructed from TMT parts A and B in W2) as well as a latent cognitive change variable regarding change in TMT completion time from W1 to W2 [45, 46]. We included the following covariates to predict latent change: cognitive reserve, functional impairment in W1, the number of chronic diseases in W1, age in W1, sex, and the interaction of functional impairment in W1 with cognitive reserve (while taking the dependencies among all covariates into account).…”

Use of technology and social media in dementia care: Current and future directions

“…Interestingly, Ihle et al [ 13 ] revealed in a six-year longitudinal study, the gender differences in the relationship between Internet use and cognitive decline, showing that more frequent Internet use predicted smaller subsequent cognitive decline only in men, but not in women. Together, these studies suggest the usefulness in incorporation of technology use in assessments for instrumental activities of daily living.…”