Department of Psychology, School of Business, National College of Ireland, 2nd Floor, Mayor Street, IFSC, Dublin, 1, Ireland.
The NEIL Programme, Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland.
Syst Rev. 2017 Dec 19;6(1):259. doi: 10.1186/s13643-017-0632-2.
Social relationships, which are contingent on access to social networks, promote engagement in social activities and provide access to social support. These social factors have been shown to positively impact health outcomes. In the current systematic review, we offer a comprehensive overview of the impact of social activities, social networks and social support on the cognitive functioning of healthy older adults (50+) and examine the differential effects of aspects of social relationships on various cognitive domains.
We followed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines, and collated data from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), genetic and observational studies. Independent variables of interest included subjective measures of social activities, social networks, and social support, and composite measures of social relationships (CMSR). The primary outcome of interest was cognitive function divided into domains of episodic memory, semantic memory, overall memory ability, working memory, verbal fluency, reasoning, attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities, overall executive functioning and global cognition.
Thirty-nine studies were included in the review; three RCTs, 34 observational studies, and two genetic studies. Evidence suggests a relationship between (1) social activity and global cognition and overall executive functioning, working memory, visuospatial abilities and processing speed but not episodic memory, verbal fluency, reasoning or attention; (2) social networks and global cognition but not episodic memory, attention or processing speed; (3) social support and global cognition and episodic memory but not attention or processing speed; and (4) CMSR and episodic memory and verbal fluency but not global cognition.
The results support prior conclusions that there is an association between social relationships and cognitive function but the exact nature of this association remains unclear. Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research provided.
PROSPERO 2012: CRD42012003248 .
社会关系取决于社交网络的可及性，促进了社交活动的参与并提供了社会支持。这些社会因素已被证明对健康结果有积极影响。在本次系统评价中，我们全面概述了社会活动、社交网络和社会支持对 50 岁以上健康老年人认知功能的影响，并研究了社会关系各个方面对不同认知领域的差异影响。
我们遵循 PRISMA（系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目）指南，从随机对照试验（RCT）、遗传和观察性研究中收集数据。感兴趣的自变量包括社会活动、社交网络和社会支持的主观测量以及社会关系的综合测量（CMSR）。主要研究结果是认知功能，分为情景记忆、语义记忆、整体记忆能力、工作记忆、词语流畅性、推理、注意力、处理速度、视空间能力、整体执行功能和总体认知。
共纳入 39 项研究，包括 3 项 RCT、34 项观察性研究和 2 项遗传研究。有证据表明：（1）社会活动与整体认知和整体执行功能、工作记忆、视空间能力和处理速度有关，但与情景记忆、词语流畅性、推理或注意力无关；（2）社交网络与整体认知有关，但与情景记忆、注意力或处理速度无关；（3）社会支持与整体认知和情景记忆有关，但与注意力或处理速度无关；（4）CMSR 与情景记忆和词语流畅性有关，但与整体认知无关。
这些结果支持了先前的结论，即社会关系与认知功能之间存在关联，但这种关联的确切性质仍不清楚。讨论了研究结果的意义，并提出了未来研究的建议。
PROSPERO 2012：CRD42012003248。
