Rutter Emily C, Tyas Suzanne L, Maxwell Colleen J, Law Jane, O'Connell Megan E, Konnert Candace A, Oremus Mark
School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, Waterlo, Ontario, Canada.
BMJ Open. 2020 Apr 6;10(4):e037301. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037301.
Maintenance of cognitive function into old age is important for ageing populations. Researchers seek to identify modifiable risk and protective factors for cognitive function. One such modifiable factor is functional social support, that is, one's perception of whether their social network can provide resources such as material help, companionship, information and emotional contact, if needed. While the literature generally reports positive associations between functional social support and cognitive function, results vary according to study methods such as the tool used to measure functional social support or the specific cognitive domain under investigation. Our review will summarise the association between functional social support and cognitive function in middle-aged and older-aged adults who reside in any setting (eg, community dwelling, long-term care facilities). We will also identify sources of discrepant findings between studies.
This protocol was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols guideline. PubMed, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Scopus will be searched from inception to the present using a search strategy developed with a medical librarian's help. We will supplement the database searches with a grey literature search. English-language or French-language studies with a comparison group will be subject to inclusion, regardless of the measures used to assess functional social support or cognitive function. We will assess risk of bias with the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool-Version 2 or the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, narratively synthesise the extracted data and conduct a meta-analysis of studies with similar characteristics (eg, sample age and sex, cognitive function outcomes). Two independent raters will screen articles and assess risk of bias.
This review is timely given the push toward early diagnosis and treatment of dementia/major neurocognitive disorder and other types of cognitive impairment. This protocol does not require a formal ethics review. We will publish our findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
认知功能维持到老年对老龄化人口很重要。研究人员试图确定认知功能的可改变风险因素和保护因素。其中一个可改变因素是功能性社会支持，即一个人对其社交网络在需要时能否提供诸如物质帮助、陪伴、信息和情感联系等资源的认知。虽然文献普遍报道功能性社会支持与认知功能之间存在正相关，但结果因研究方法而异，例如用于测量功能性社会支持的工具或所调查的特定认知领域。我们的综述将总结居住在任何环境（如社区住宅、长期护理机构）中的中老年人功能性社会支持与认知功能之间的关联。我们还将确定研究结果存在差异的原因。
本方案根据系统评价和Meta分析方案的首选报告项目指南进行报告。将在医学图书馆员的帮助下制定检索策略，从创刊到现在对PubMed、PsycINFO、社会学文摘、护理及相关健康文献累积索引（CINAHL）和Scopus进行检索。我们将通过灰色文献检索来补充数据库检索。将纳入有对照组的英语或法语研究，无论用于评估功能性社会支持或认知功能的措施如何。我们将使用Cochrane偏倚风险工具第2版或纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表评估偏倚风险，对提取的数据进行叙述性综合，并对具有相似特征（如样本年龄和性别、认知功能结果）的研究进行Meta分析。两名独立的评估人员将筛选文章并评估偏倚风险。
鉴于对痴呆症/主要神经认知障碍和其他类型认知障碍的早期诊断和治疗的推动，本综述很及时。本方案不需要正式的伦理审查。我们将在同行评审期刊上发表我们的研究结果。
