The relationship between social isolation, depressive symptoms and cognitive function in older adults: a longitudinal mediation study in China.

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-10-01 Epub Date: 2025-02-20 DOI:10.1007/s00127-025-02837-z

Kerui Wang, Yinuo Zhou, Shaohui Su, Xin Jin, Lei Lei, Hao Ma, Aonan Liu, Yanfang Yang

{"title":"The relationship between social isolation, depressive symptoms and cognitive function in older adults: a longitudinal mediation study in China.","authors":"Kerui Wang, Yinuo Zhou, Shaohui Su, Xin Jin, Lei Lei, Hao Ma, Aonan Liu, Yanfang Yang","doi":"10.1007/s00127-025-02837-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: Both social isolation and cognitive impairment are important public health issues that affect the quality of life of older adults. Our study aims to clarify the direction of their relationship and to illustrate the mediating role played by depressive symptoms.Methods: Data from 5399 respondents who participated in three longitudinal surveys in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) were analyzed. Cross-lagged panel model was used to determine the longitudinal relationship between social isolation, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.Results: After controlling for confounders, higher levels of social isolation predicted subsequent more severe cognitive function score (wave1-wave2: β = - 0.039, SE = 0.015, P = 0.009; wave2-wave3: β = - 0.057, SE = 0.017, P = 0.001), and 37.5% of this effect was mediated through depressive symptoms (β = - 0.002, SE = 0.001, P = 0.022). Similarly, lower cognitive function predicted subsequent higher social isolation (wave1-wave2: β = - 0.062, SE = 0.014, P < 0.001; wave2-wave3: β = - 0.039, SE = 0.015, P = 0.009), but depressive symptoms did not play a mediating role in this process (β = - 0.001, SE = 0.001, P = 0.072).Conclusion: There is a potential bidirectional relationship between social isolation and cognitive function in which depressive symptoms play a partially mediating role.","PeriodicalId":49510,"journal":{"name":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"2377-2386"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-025-02837-z","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/2/20 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Both social isolation and cognitive impairment are important public health issues that affect the quality of life of older adults. Our study aims to clarify the direction of their relationship and to illustrate the mediating role played by depressive symptoms.

Methods: Data from 5399 respondents who participated in three longitudinal surveys in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) were analyzed. Cross-lagged panel model was used to determine the longitudinal relationship between social isolation, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.

Results: After controlling for confounders, higher levels of social isolation predicted subsequent more severe cognitive function score (wave1-wave2: β = - 0.039, SE = 0.015, P = 0.009; wave2-wave3: β = - 0.057, SE = 0.017, P = 0.001), and 37.5% of this effect was mediated through depressive symptoms (β = - 0.002, SE = 0.001, P = 0.022). Similarly, lower cognitive function predicted subsequent higher social isolation (wave1-wave2: β = - 0.062, SE = 0.014, P < 0.001; wave2-wave3: β = - 0.039, SE = 0.015, P = 0.009), but depressive symptoms did not play a mediating role in this process (β = - 0.001, SE = 0.001, P = 0.072).

Conclusion: There is a potential bidirectional relationship between social isolation and cognitive function in which depressive symptoms play a partially mediating role.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

中国老年人社会孤立、抑郁症状和认知功能的关系：一项纵向中介研究

目的：社会孤立和认知障碍都是影响老年人生活质量的重要公共卫生问题。本研究旨在厘清两者关系的方向，并阐明抑郁症状的中介作用。方法：对参加中国健康与退休纵向调查（CHARLS）三次纵向调查的5399名被调查者的数据进行分析。使用交叉滞后面板模型来确定社会孤立、抑郁症状和认知功能之间的纵向关系。结果：在控制混杂因素后，较高的社会隔离水平预示着随后更严重的认知功能评分(wave1-wave2: β = - 0.039, SE = 0.015, P = 0.009；wave2-wave3: β = - 0.057, SE = 0.017, P = 0.001)，其中37.5%的效应是通过抑郁症状介导的（β = - 0.002, SE = 0.001, P = 0.022）。同样，认知功能越低，社会孤立程度越高（wave1-wave2: β = - 0.062, SE = 0.014， P）。结论：社会孤立与认知功能之间存在潜在的双向关系，其中抑郁症状在其中起部分中介作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

2.30%

发文量

184

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic. In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation. Both original work and review articles may be submitted.