Richer social environments linked to better cognitive health in aging adults

Research by an interdisciplinary team from McGill University and Université Laval provides new insights into the links between social factors and cognitive health among aging adults.

While previous research had found positive correlations between specific measures of social connectedness and a variety of health outcomes, this study appears to have been the first to create profiles aggregating multiple social factors and to see how those correlated with cognitive health in older adults, the researchers said.

The team derived three social environment categories (weaker, intermediate and richer) by assembling 24 social variables – reflecting such elements as network size, social support, social cohesion and social isolation – using data from approximately 30,000 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). That data is from a nationally representative cohort of randomly selected Canadians ages 45-84 at the time baseline information was collected.

For cognition, the researchers examined three domains: executive function, episodic memory and prospective memory, using data from a battery of tests previously administered to CLSA participants.

Higher social scores, higher cognitive scores

"We identified significant associations between the social profiles and all three cognitive domains, with the intermediate and richer profiles generally exhibiting better cognitive outcomes than the weaker profile," explained Daiva Nielsen, Associate Professor at the McGill School of Human Nutrition and co-first author of the paper.

The researcher noted that the effect size of the associations (a statistical measure assessing the strength of the relationship between variables) was, however, relatively small, which is in keeping with previous studies on this topic.

Nielsen noted that the effect sizes were somewhat stronger for participants who were 65 or older. According to the researcher, this suggests that the social environment-cognition association may be more significant in later stages of life.

The science of social connection and cognitive health

Awareness has been increasing of the importance of social connection in public health.

"Lack of social connection has been shown to be comparable to more widely acknowledged disease risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity and obesity. It is important to translate this knowledge to the public to empower individuals to help build meaningful connections within their communities," she said.

The authors did note that the associations found in the current study are correlational rather than causal, and it is possible, for example, that poor cognitive health also leads individuals to withdraw from social life.

The power of interdisciplinary research

The team, whose members stem from such diverse fields as marketing, human behaviour, nutrition and epidemiology, hopes to continue using CLSA data and the newly created social profiles in future research, said Nielsen.

The next steps involve studying changes in social environments and various health-related outcomes, including diet and chronic disease risk, she added.

"This work is an excellent example of the benefits of multidisciplinary research teams that can tackle complex research questions and bring diverse knowledge and expertise," she concluded.