Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023 Mar;71(3):765-773. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18140. Epub 2023 Jan 11.
Social isolation can influence whether older adults develop dementia. We examine the association between social isolation and incident dementia among older adults in a nationally representative sample of community dwelling older adults in the United States (U.S.). We also investigate whether this association varies by race and ethnicity.
Data (N = 5022) come from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, a longitudinal and nationally representative cohort of older adults in the U.S. A composite measure of social isolation was used to classify older adults as socially isolated or not socially isolated at baseline. Demographic and health factors were measured at baseline via self-report. Dementia was measured at each round of data collection. Discrete-time proportional hazard time-to-event models were used to assess the association between social isolation and incident dementia over 9 years (2011-2020).
Of 5022 older adults, 1172 (23.3%) were socially isolated, and 3850 (76.7%) were not socially isolated. Adjusting for demographic and health factors, being socially isolated (vs. not socially isolated) was associated with a 1.28 (95% CI: 1.10-1.49) higher hazard of incident dementia over 9 years. There was no statistically significant difference by race and ethnicity.
Social isolation among older adults is associated with greater dementia risk. Elucidating the pathway by which social isolation impacts dementia may offer meaningful insights for the development of novel solutions to prevent or ameliorate dementia across diverse racial and ethnic groups.
社会隔离会影响老年人是否会患上痴呆症。我们在美国一个具有全国代表性的社区居住的老年人样本中，研究了社会隔离与老年人痴呆症发病之间的关联。我们还调查了这种关联是否因种族和民族而异。
数据（N=5022）来自美国全国健康老龄化趋势研究，这是一项对美国老年人进行的纵向和具有全国代表性的队列研究。使用社会隔离综合衡量标准，将老年人在基线时分为社会隔离或非社会隔离。通过自我报告在基线时测量人口统计学和健康因素。在每次数据收集时测量痴呆症。使用离散时间比例风险时事件模型评估 9 年（2011-2020 年）期间社会隔离与痴呆症发病之间的关联。
在 5022 名老年人中，有 1172 人（23.3%）处于社会隔离状态，3850 人（76.7%）没有社会隔离。调整人口统计学和健康因素后，与非社会隔离者相比，社会隔离者（vs. 非社会隔离者）在 9 年内发生痴呆症的风险高出 1.28（95%CI：1.10-1.49）。不同种族和民族之间没有统计学上的显著差异。
老年人的社会隔离与更高的痴呆症风险相关。阐明社会隔离影响痴呆症的途径，可能为在不同种族和民族群体中开发预防或改善痴呆症的新解决方案提供有意义的见解。
