Loneliness May Raise Dementia Risk By Over 30%, As Feeling Dissatisfied With Social Relationships Affects Cognitive Function, No Matter Your Age Or Gender
A new study has highlighted a concerning connection between loneliness and dementia risk. The research shows that people who feel lonely are over 30 percent more likely to develop dementia compared to those who don’t experience those feelings.
Researchers at Florida State University analyzed data from more than 600,000 individuals around the world. They combined results from 21 long-term studies to figure out exactly how social isolation affects cognitive health.
The large-scale study was led by Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor at the university. Her team’s findings suggest that loneliness could negatively impact the brain.
They discovered that feelings of dissatisfaction with social relationships affect cognitive function regardless of age or gender. The impact does not just include general cognitive decline but specific forms of dementia as well, including Alzheimer’s disease.
“Dementia is a spectrum, with neuropathological changes that start decades before clinical onset,” said Luchetti. “It is important to continue studying the link of loneliness with different cognitive outcomes or symptoms across this spectrum.”
“Loneliness—the dissatisfaction with social relationships—may impact how you are functioning cognitively and in daily life.”
In their meta-analysis, the researchers separated the data into categories based on loneliness levels. They tracked the participants’ health over the years to see if they ended up developing dementia.
They used advanced statistical techniques to help them control for other factors that could affect dementia risk, such as depression and social isolation.
Overall, people who reported feeling lonely were at greater risk of developing dementia. The risk was particularly high for Alzheimer’s disease. Lonely individuals were about 31 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who did not feel lonely.
fizkes – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person – pictured above is a lonely older woman sitting on a couch
One limitation of the study is that most of the data came from wealthy Western countries and excluded regions like Africa and parts of Asia and South America.
In low-income countries, the number of dementia cases is rising. More research is needed to gather data from these countries to include them in studies and determine the effects of loneliness on people across different national and cultural settings.
Still, the research is of major significance, especially after the World Health Organization and U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic. It could help inform future methods and strategies for preventing cognitive decline.
“Now that there is solid evidence of an association, it is critical to identify the sources of loneliness to both prevent or manage loneliness and support the well-being and cognitive health of aging adults,” said Luchetti.
By addressing loneliness through things like community support and mental health interventions, dementia risk in older adults may be able to be lowered.
The details of this study were published and can be found in the journal Nature Mental Health.
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