School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China; Institute of Applied Psychology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2021 Jul-Aug;95:104390. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2021.104390. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Identifying potentially modifiable risk factors of cognitive decline among people with depressive symptoms could provide insight into strategies for improving treatment effect of depression and prevention of dementia. Quite a few studies have examined the association between social isolation and cognitive function directly among depressed older adults and the results are still mixed. The aim is to examine the association of social isolation and cognitive decline among older adults with depressive symptoms in a non-Western country.
This study used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Depressive symptoms were measured by the Chinese version of the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) (elevated depressive symptom cutoff≥10). Social isolation was assessed based on responses to four items: marital status, residence, contact with children, and social activity. Lagged dependent variable regressions adjusted for confounding factors were used to evaluate the association between baseline social isolation and follow-up cognitive function.
A number of 2,507 participants [mean age (SD)=61.37 (7.26); male, 41.0%] with increased depressive symptoms were available for the present study. Baseline social isolation was significantly associated with 4-year episodic memory (β=-0.08, p<0.001) in depressed women, but not men (β=-0.03, p=0.350). No significant association between baseline social isolation and follow-up mental status was found for women (β=-0.04, p=0.097) or men (β=0.01, p=0.741).
This longitudinal study found that social isolation was significantly associated with memory decline over 4 years among depressed women (but not men) in China.
识别有抑郁症状人群认知能力下降的潜在可调节风险因素，可以深入了解改善抑郁治疗效果和预防痴呆症的策略。相当多的研究直接在老年抑郁患者中检查了社会隔离与认知功能之间的关系，结果仍存在差异。本研究旨在检验非西方国家中老年抑郁患者社会隔离与认知衰退之间的关系。
本研究使用了中国健康与退休纵向研究（CHARLS）的数据。抑郁症状通过中文版的 10 项流行病学研究抑郁量表（CESD-10）（升高的抑郁症状截断值≥10）来衡量。社会隔离是根据四个项目的回答来评估的：婚姻状况、居住地点、与子女的接触以及社会活动。采用滞后因变量回归调整混杂因素，以评估基线社会隔离与随访认知功能之间的关系。
本研究共纳入 2507 名[平均年龄（SD）=61.37（7.26）；男性占 41.0%]有抑郁症状的患者。基线社会隔离与抑郁女性（β=-0.08，p<0.001）但非男性（β=-0.03，p=0.350）的 4 年情景记忆显著相关。基线社会隔离与女性（β=-0.04，p=0.097）或男性（β=0.01，p=0.741）的随访心理状态之间无显著相关性。
本纵向研究发现，在中国，社会隔离与抑郁女性（而非男性）的记忆衰退显著相关，持续 4 年。
