Overview
- The effect was independent of whether participants felt lonely, with about 6% of the impact mediated by loneliness.
- Researchers examined 137,653 cognitive assessments from 30,421 adults in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study.
- Using the g-formula counterfactual method, the team estimated a direct causal effect of objective social isolation on cognitive trajectories.
- Reducing isolation was linked to cognitive protection across gender, race and ethnicity, and education categories with only minor differences.
- The authors call for public-health measures to build social connection, including targeted support for people living alone, given dementia’s prevalence and the lack of a cure.