Persistent Loneliness at Midlife Linked to Late-life Dementia, Alzheimer ’s Disease
People aged 45 to 64 years who are persistently lonely have nearly twice the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer ’s disease later in life compared with their peers who do not experience persistent loneliness, astudy inAlzheimer ’s and Dementia suggests. However, transient loneliness was linked to lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer ’s disease compared with those who reported no loneliness.“[M]idlife loneliness may be an independent, modifiable risk factor for dementia and [Alzheimer’s disease],” wrote Wendy Qiu, M.D., Ph.D., of Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues.The researchers analyzed data from a subset of 2,880 adults in the Framingham Heart Study, an ongoing, nationwide study begun in 1948 to determine cardiovascular risk factors. Participants in this subset were 45 to 64 years old between 1998 and 2001 and had no cognitive problems. These participants received health exams every four years and completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) at least twice, approximately three years apart. Qiu and colleagues analyzed the participants ’ responses to one item on the CES-D, “I felt lonely during the past week,” and defined loneliness as feeling lonely at least one to two days within the past week. They then separated the participants into subgroups as follows:No loneliness, wherein participants did not report loneliness at either assessmentTransient loneliness, wherein participants reported loneliness at one a...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Alzheimer's & Dementia Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale CES-D midlife loneliness resilience Source Type: research
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