Social isolation is directly associated with late dementia

Overview: Social isolation is directly associated with structural changes in brain regions associated with memory and cognitive function. Researchers report that socially isolated people are 26% more likely to develop dementia in later years.

sauce: University of Warwick

Scientists have found that social isolation is directly associated with memory-related changes in brain structure and is an obvious risk factor for dementia.

Researchers at Warwick University, Cambridge University, and Fukudan University have set out to investigate how social isolation and loneliness are associated with later dementia, with more than 30,000 participants in the UK Biobank dataset. We used neuroimaging data from a person. Socially isolated individuals have been found to have less gray-white mass in the brain regions involved in memory and learning.

The results of the study are published online Neurology..

Based on data from a very large longitudinal cohort, UK Biobank, researchers use modeling techniques to investigate the relative association between social isolation and loneliness and dementia due to all accidental causes. Did.

After adjusting for various risk factors (social and economic factors, chronic illness, lifestyle, depression, APOE genotype, etc.), socially isolated individuals may have a 26% increased chance of developing dementia. Shown.

Loneliness was also associated with later dementia, but after adjusting for depression the association was not significant, explaining 75% of the relationship between loneliness and dementia. Therefore, objective social isolation, compared to the subjectivity of loneliness, is an independent risk factor for later dementia. Further subgroup analysis showed that the effect was significant in people over the age of 60.

Professor Edmund Rolls, a neuroscientist at the University of Warwick’s School of Computer Science, said: “There is a difference between social isolation, which is an objective state with low social ties, and loneliness, which is a subjectively perceived social isolation.

“Both have health risks, but by using an extensive multimodal data set from UK Biobank and working in an interdisciplinary way to link computational and neuroscience, it is social isolation. I was able to show that I was socially isolated, not the feeling of loneliness. This is an independent risk factor for later dementia. It can be used as a predictor or biomarker of dementia in the UK. Means.

“This was a serious but underestimated public health problem due to the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness over the last few decades. Now, behind the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the elderly. Affects social isolation interventions and care. “

Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick School of Computer Science said: It is important that individuals, especially the elderly, do not experience social isolation during the blockade of future pandemics. “

Professor Barbara J. Sahakian of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, said: Interact with other people on a regular basis. “

About this social isolation and dementia research news

author: Sheila Kiggins
sauce: University of Warwick
contact: Sheila Kigins – University of Warwick
image: The image is in the public domain

Independent research: Closed access.
“”Relationship between social isolation, loneliness and late dementiaAccording to Edmond Rawls et al. Neurology

Overview

Relationship between social isolation, loneliness and late dementia

See also

Purpose

To investigate the independent association of social isolation and loneliness with accidental dementia and explore potential neurobiological mechanisms.

Method

Using the UK Biobank cohort, we have established a Cox proportional hazards model with social isolation and loneliness as separate exposures. Demographics (gender, age, ethnicity), socio-economy (education level, household income, Townsend deprivation index), biology (BMI,) APOE Measured genotypes, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other disorders), cognition (speed and visual memory), behavior (current smokers, alcohol intake and physical activity), and psychological (social isolation). Or loneliness, depressive symptoms and neurosis) were adjusted at the factor baseline. Next, we used a brain-wide association analysis by voxel to identify gray-white mass (GMV) associated with social isolation and loneliness. Partial least squares regression was performed using the Allen Human Brain Atlas to test the spatial correlation between GMV differences and gene expression.

result

Includes 462,619 participants (mean age at baseline 57.0 years) [SD 8.1]). At an average of 11.7 years of follow-up (SD 1.7), 4,998 people developed dementia of all causes. Social isolation was associated with a 1.26-fold increased risk of dementia, independent of various risk factors, including loneliness and depression (ie, complete coordination) (95% CI, 1.15-1.37). ). However, the fully adjusted hazard ratio for loneliness-related dementia was 1.04 (95% CI, 0.94-1.16). And 75% of this relationship was due to depressive symptoms. Structural MRI data were obtained from 32,263 participants (mean age 63.5 years). [SD 7.5]). Socially isolated individuals had lower GMV in the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, and other areas (eg, hippocampus). Mediation analysis showed that the identified GMV partially mediated the association between baseline social isolation and follow-up cognitive function. Low GMV associated with social isolation was associated with underexpression of genes down-regulated in Alzheimer’s disease and genes involved in mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative phosphorylation.

Conclusion

Social isolation is a risk factor for dementia that is independent of loneliness and many other covariates. Differences in brain structure associated with social isolation, coupled with various molecular functions, also support the association between social isolation and cognition and dementia. Therefore, social isolation may be an early indicator of an increased risk of dementia.