Perceived social isolation and cognitive functioning. Longitudinal findings based on the German Ageing Survey

Abstract

Objectives: There is a lack of longitudinal studies, which are both based on nationally representative samples and use standardized instruments to quantify social isolation.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the link between perceived social isolation and cognitive functioning longitudinally.Methods/Design: Longitudinal data with n = 6420 from 2014 (wave 5) to 2017 (wave 6) were drawn from the German Ageing Survey (nationally representative sample of individuals aged 40 years and over). Perceived social isolation was assessed using a scale by Bude and Lantermann. Cognitive functioning was quantified using the established digit symbol test. To reduce the problem of unobserved heterogeneity, linear fixed effects regressions were used.Results: Regressions showed that increases in perceived social isolation were associated with decreases in cognitive functioning. With regard to covariates, decreases in cognitive functioning were associated with increases in aging and worsening selfrated health, whereas changes in marital status, employment status, income, physical functioning, and physical illnesses were not associated with the outcome measure.Conclusions: Based on a nationally representative sample and exploiting the panel data structure, the study findings extend current knowledge by showing that increasing perceived social isolation contributes to decreases in cognitive functioning among individuals aged 40 years and over longitudinally. Future longitudinal studies based on panel data methods are required to validate the study findings. K E Y W O R D Scognition, cognitive functioning, social disconnectedness, social exclusion, social isolation | INTRODUCTIONIt is widely acknowledged that there is an ongoing change in the demographic structure of industrialized countries, meaning that the number of individuals in late life is increasing continuously. It is also widely understood that age is associated with decreases in cognitive functioning.Moreover, higher age is associated with increased social isolation. 1 Cognitive functioning 2 and social isolation 3 are both associated with subsequent morbidity and mortality, highlighting the importance of these factors.Social isolation is linked to decreased social activities or social engagement, which, in turn, can stimulate cognitive functioning. 4An association between social isolation and cognitive functioning has been demonstrated by recent cross-sectional 5 and longitudinal studies. 6,7 For example, it has been shown that social isolation is related to decreased cognitive function based on data from a Spanish nationally representative sample (n = 1691; individuals ≥50 years; two waves). Similar findings were made by Evans et al based on longitudinal data from the Cognitive Function and

Are social isolation and loneliness associated with cognitive decline in ageing?

“…between risk factors and cognitive decline and try to establish directional relationships (e.g., Boss et al, 2015). Follow-up periods for all 12 longitudinal studies ranged from 3 (Zhou et al, 2019;Hajek et al, 2020) to 11 years (Luchetti et al, 2020). All studies reported findings from participants enrolled in large, population-based studies, being these the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; Luchetti et al, 2020), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA; Yin et al, 2019;Read et al, 2020), the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study-Wales (CFAS-Wales; Evans et al, 2018), the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort Study (CC75C; Wang et al, 2020), the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA;McHugh Power et al, 2019, 2020, the Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe study in Europe (COURAGE; Lara et al, 2019), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; Griffin et al, 2020), the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS; Zhou et al, 2019), the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS; Yu et al, 2020) and the German Ageing Survey (DEAS; Hajek et al, 2020).…”

The effect of social relationships on cognitive decline in older adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies

“…In total, authors from 16 selected articles examined the association between functional aspects of social relationships and cognitive decline [ 16 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 47 , 58 – 66 ]. Aspects included: social support (i.e., the availability of sources of material or emotional help, 12 articles), loneliness or isolation (i.e., subjective perception of loneliness or depression, 10 articles).…”

A Faith-Based Intervention to Address Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

“…Failure to address loneliness in older adults could profoundly impact the healthcare system. Social isolation and loneliness in older adults have been associated with incidence and progression of cardiovascular disease (Banerjee et al, 2014), cognitive decline (Hajek et al, 2020), Alzheimer's disease (Wilson et al, 2007), and impaired cellular immunity (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2010). Zhang et al (2018) described the correlation between perceived social isolation and medical service utilization in older adults as demonstrated by more frequent primary care visits, whereas Mistry et al (2001) found that 1-year rehospitalization rates were four to fi ve times higher than in low-isolation risk patients.…”