A new study by an interdisciplinary team from McGill University and Université Laval sheds light on the relationship between social factors and cognitive health among aging adults.
While previous research had found links between social connectedness and health outcomes, this study is among the first to create aggregated social profiles and examine how these profiles correlate with cognitive health in older adults.
The researchers analyzed data from approximately 30,000 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a nationally representative cohort of Canadians aged 45 to 84 at baseline. They derived three social environment categories - weaker, intermediate, and richer - by combining 24 social variables, including network size, social support, social cohesion, and social isolation.
Cognitive health was assessed across three domains: executive function, episodic memory, and prospective memory, using a battery of previously administered tests.
The study found significant associations between social profiles and cognitive performance. Participants in the intermediate and richer social environment categories generally showed better outcomes across all three cognitive domains compared to those in the weaker category. The associations were somewhat stronger among participants aged 65 and older, suggesting that social environment may play an even more important role in later stages of life.
Daiva Nielsen, Associate Professor at the McGill School of Human Nutrition and co-first author of the paper, noted that while the effect sizes were relatively small, the findings are consistent with previous studies highlighting the importance of social connection. She emphasized that lack of social connection can pose risks comparable to smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity.
The researchers cautioned that the findings are correlational rather than causal. It is possible, for instance, that declining cognitive health leads individuals to withdraw from social engagement rather than the other way around.
The team, which includes experts from marketing, human behaviour, nutrition, and epidemiology, plans to continue using CLSA data and the newly created social profiles to study how changes in social environments affect health outcomes, including diet and chronic disease risk.
"This work highlights the value of multidisciplinary research teams in addressing complex questions and leveraging diverse expertise," Nielsen said.
