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Abstract

> Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is a major public health burden–compounding over upcoming years due to longevity. Recently, clinical evidence hinted at the experience of social isolation in expediting dementia onset. In 502,506 UK Biobank participants and 30,097 participants from the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging, we revisited traditional risk factors for developing dementia in the context of loneliness and lacking social support. Across these measures of subjective and objective social deprivation, we have identified strong links between individuals’ social capital and various indicators of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias risk, which replicated across both population cohorts. The quality and quantity of daily social encounters had deep connections with key aetiopathological factors, which represent 1) personal habits and lifestyle factors, 2) physical health, 3) mental health, and 4) societal and external factors. Our population-scale assessment suggest that social lifestyle determinants are linked to most neurodegeneration risk factors, highlighting them as promising targets for preventive clinical action.

News article: https://www.micronews.site/2023/02/people-in-social-isolation-have-higher.html

Yeah so i always wonder about this. Is it social isolation, or is it lack of mental stimulation? If you’re not engaging with your world, isn’t that more important than if you’re just alone?

Good question, I'm not sure. They assess "perceived a d factual social capital" (how lonely do you feel vs. How often do you confide in ppl close to you" , which is along the same vein as your question. In this paper, feeling lonely, rather than actual loneliness, is more associated with Alzheimer's risk

Ah ok, and that makes perfect sense. You can feel alone in a room of people and feel great by yourself. Perception vs reality sort of argument. I think I’ll actually read this one, thanks!

No worries! My main take-away is that both are associated with "classic" Alzheimer's risk factors. Not sure there's a detailed comment inside the text about which is "worse" though, a lotof the paper was highlighting that the two resources had similar results.

Some interesting things for me

> However, in both the UKBB and the CLSA cohorts, we observed that having a greater number of siblings showed notable effects on increased feelings of loneliness and lacking social support.

I would have expected the opposite but it also makes sense as someone with many siblings (compared to only children friends). I wonder if it's because in early childhood you have a built-in social network and don't have to put as much effort in maintaining friendships as only-children? Or maybe the psychological "I can't do anything BC siblings will tattle". I don't know.

>Watching TV showed strong effects on increased feelings of loneliness and poor social support, while using the computer was linked with less loneliness and better social support

This one is interesting, I wonder if there's an effect of what you watch (are you comparing yourself to like friends (never watched) or Seinfeld (have seen) with multiple close friends? What do they use the computer for, social media and keeping up with kids (I think both cohorts are 45+)

>Finally, in both the UKBB and CLSA, living in an urban environment, as opposed to a rural setting, was associated with higher levels of loneliness and poor social support

I've probably written enough already, but this one also makes sense to me

The research is unique in establishing the most deleterious factor that causes Alzheimer's disease in relation to the others such as lack of exercise, sleep, poor nutrition, and drug use.

The result suggests that social lifestyle determinants are linked to most neurodegeneration risk factors, making them promising targets for preventative clinical action.

It could help with making more informed decisions for policy interventions, especially among the elderly. Social isolation is arguably easier to modify than the other factors