A robust social environment is associated with better cognitive health outcomes among older adults, according to a study published in Aging & Mental Health. 

The study examined data on 30,097 patients included in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a nationally representative cohort of randomly selected Canadians aged 45–85 years. Twenty-four CLSA measures on social factors were used to derive social environment profiles, which were combined into four main domains: network size, social support, social cohesion and social isolation. Researchers also measured cognitive performance, executive function, episodic memory and prospective memory. 

Participants were sorted into three groups for the final results: weaker social environment, intermediate social environment and stronger social environment. A total 16.6% of participants were classified as living in a weaker social environment, 40.4% were intermediate and 42.9% were stronger. 

“We identified significant associations between the social profiles and all three cognitive domains, with the intermediate and richer profiles generally exhibiting better cognitive outcomes than the weaker profile,” said Daiva Nielsen, associate professor at the McGill School of Human Nutrition and co-first author of the paper in a release. “Lack of social connection has been shown to be comparable to more widely acknowledged disease risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity and obesity. It is important to translate this knowledge to the public to empower individuals to help build meaningful connections within their communities.”

Other factors influencing cognitive function

A January study published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease also examined a multitude of modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors that affect changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. 

The study examined 494 cognitively unimpaired participants, of whom 365 were amyloid-negative (CU Aβ−) and 129 were amyloid-positive (CU Aβ+). Changes in the brain’s white matter and levels of amyloid β and tau were measured over the course of four years. 

“We saw that most modifiable risk factors — smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids and high blood pressure, among others — were linked to damage to the brain’s blood vessels and a faster accumulation of so-called white matter changes,” said Isabelle Glans, doctoral student at Lund University and resident in neurology at Skåne University Hospital in a statement. “This damage impairs the function of the blood vessels and leads to vascular brain damage — and can ultimately lead to vascular dementia. Diabetes was associated with increased accumulation of amyloid β, while people with lower BMI had faster accumulation of tau. However, these findings need to be investigated further and validated in future studies.”