A prospective association between social isolation and cognitive performance among older adults in Europe: the role of loneliness and poor oral health.
Rabia Khalaila, Ella Cohn-Schwartz, Sharon Shiovitz-Ezra, Brian Lawlor
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: The relationship between social isolation, loneliness, and tooth loss and cognition in older people is poorly understood. We examine how social isolation and cognitive performance are associated prospectively among older adults, as well as how tooth loss and loneliness are related to this association.
Methods: Using data from 26,168 participants aged ≥50 from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we explored the association between social isolation, loneliness, tooth loss and cognition. We used bootstrapping with resampling strategies for testing a moderated mediating model.
Results: Higher social isolation was associated with poorer cognitive performance (B = -0.20, 95% CI = -0.03, -0.01; R2 =0.60), an association mediated by the respondent's number of missing teeth (B = -0.001, 95% CI = -0.002, -0.001). Higher levels of social isolation were associated with a greater number of missing teeth, and a higher number of missing teeth was linked with poorer cognition. We also found that loneliness moderated the relationship between social isolation and both the number of missing teeth (B = -0.11, p = 0.047) and cognitive performance.
Conclusion: In later life, social isolation and loneliness are associated with shoddy oral health and poor cognitive status. Clinicians and policymakers should be aware of both the association between social isolation and feelings of loneliness on dentition and oral health and their relationship to the cognitive status of older adults.
期刊介绍:
Aging & Mental Health provides a leading international forum for the rapidly expanding field which investigates the relationship between the aging process and mental health. The journal addresses the mental changes associated with normal and abnormal or pathological aging, as well as the psychological and psychiatric problems of the aging population. The journal also has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary and innovative approaches that explore new topics and methods.
Aging & Mental Health covers the biological, psychological and social aspects of aging as they relate to mental health. In particular it encourages an integrated approach for examining various biopsychosocial processes and etiological factors associated with psychological changes in the elderly. It also emphasizes the various strategies, therapies and services which may be directed at improving the mental health of the elderly and their families. In this way the journal promotes a strong alliance among the theoretical, experimental and applied sciences across a range of issues affecting mental health and aging. The emphasis of the journal is on rigorous quantitative, and qualitative, research and, high quality innovative studies on emerging topics.