Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 May 11;10:886974. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.886974. eCollection 2022.
Previous studies have linked internet use with several beneficial outcomes for brain health, but there is little data on this among older Chinese.
The goal of this study was to explore the association between internet use and cognitive impairment and to explore the possible mechanisms by which internet use prevents cognitive decline.
The current study consisted of two cohorts: one from the China Longitudinal Aging Study (CLAS), which included 610 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 192 with dementia, and 2,218 healthy older adults; the second cohort included 39 healthy adults from the Shanghai brain health foundation (SHBHF2016001), who underwent T1 cranial magnetic resonance imaging at baseline, from which their volumes of the hippocampus, amygdala, and globus pallidus were calculated. Moreover, they were also followed up for 1 year. Through standardized questionnaires, detailed general demographic information and internet use information was obtained. The cognitive diagnosis of each participant was made by attending psychiatrists at baseline, and their overall cognitive function was assessed by the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
In cohort 1, after controlling age, gender, smoker, tea drinker, take exercise, diabetes, and hypertension, we found that internet use was associated with MCI ( = 0.015, OR = 0.478, 95% CI: 0.2640.867), but not for dementia ( = 0.205, OR = 0.393, 95% CI: 0.0931.665). In cohort 2, we found that the globus pallidus volume of internet users was significantly larger than that of non-users, and the MMSE change score was lower ( < 0.05). The results of partial correlation analysis (controlled for sex, age and education) showed that the change of MMSE value was positively correlated with the volume of left globus pallidus ( = 0.547, = 0.004).
Internet use might be a protective factor for mild cognitive impairment among the Chinese elderly, and it may prevent a decline in cognitive decline by affecting the volume of the globus pallidus.
先前的研究表明，互联网的使用与大脑健康的多种有益结果有关，但针对中国老年人的数据却很少。
本研究旨在探讨互联网的使用与认知障碍之间的关联，并探讨互联网使用预防认知能力下降的可能机制。
本研究包括两个队列：一个来自中国纵向老龄化研究（CLAS），其中包括 610 名轻度认知障碍（MCI）老年人、192 名痴呆症患者和 2218 名健康老年人；另一个队列包括 39 名来自上海脑健康基金会（SHBHF2016001）的健康成年人，他们在基线时接受了 T1 颅磁共振成像，根据该成像计算出海马体、杏仁核和苍白球的体积。此外，他们还进行了为期 1 年的随访。通过标准化问卷获得了参与者的详细一般人口统计学信息和互联网使用信息。每位参与者的认知诊断均由基线时的主治精神科医生做出，他们的整体认知功能由简易精神状态检查（MMSE）和蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）进行评估。
在队列 1 中，在控制年龄、性别、吸烟者、饮茶者、运动者、糖尿病和高血压后，我们发现互联网的使用与 MCI 有关（ = 0.015，OR = 0.478，95%CI：0.2640.867），但与痴呆症无关（ = 0.205，OR = 0.393，95%CI：0.0931.665）。在队列 2 中，我们发现互联网使用者的苍白球体积明显大于非使用者，且 MMSE 变化评分较低（ < 0.05）。部分相关分析（控制性别、年龄和教育）的结果表明，MMSE 值的变化与左侧苍白球的体积呈正相关（ = 0.547， = 0.004）。
互联网的使用可能是中国老年人轻度认知障碍的保护因素，它可能通过影响苍白球的体积来预防认知能力下降。
