ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2020
Loneliness and Risk of Dementia.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 153 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
153 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Aging trends, challenges, and policy framework within the Ghanaian context: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Relationship Between Clusters of Multimorbidity and Dementia Risk: A Systematic Review.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Belongingness and loneliness in higher education: a meta-analysis of pre- and post-pandemic trends.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Five-Factor Model Personality Traits and the Trajectory of Episodic Memory: Individual-Participant Meta-Analysis of 471,821 Memory Assessments from 120,640 Participants.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Sense of purpose in life and concurrent loneliness and risk of incident loneliness: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 135,227 individuals from 36 cohorts.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- The association between purpose/meaning in life and verbal fluency and episodic memory: a meta-analysis of >140,000 participants from up to 32 countries.International psychogeriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Association between loneliness and dementia risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- State-of-the-Art Sensors for Remote Care of People with Dementia during a Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Pooled it
- Sense of Purpose in Life Is Associated with Lower Risk of Incident Dementia: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Outcomes of Interventions for Reducing Loneliness in Elderly Patients in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Gerontology · 2025Trial
- Possible and Probable Dementia and Depressive/Anxiety Symptoms in U.S. Older Adults: One-Year Follow-Up.Journal of aging and health · 2026Article
- Loneliness and cognitive function in later life: a population-based counterfactual analysis.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Estimating the effects of hypothetical loneliness interventions on memory function among middle-aged and older adults in the United States.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Factors Predicting Loneliness in Older Adults Attending Delaware Senior Center Programs.Delaware journal of public health · 2026Article
- Associations of stable psychological traits with multi-omic subtypes of Alzheimer's dementia.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Racial/ethnic variation of neighborhood social cohesion, loneliness, and cognitive functioning among midlife and older U.S. adults.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Personality Traits and Social Isolation in Older Adults.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Towards Real-World Dementia Care: Encouraging Activity Engagement Using an Intelligent Humanoid Robot.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Loneliness Subtypes and Their Association With Prevalent and Incident Dementia.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
93 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe present study tests whether loneliness is associated with risk of dementia in the largest sample to date and further examines whether the association is independent of social isolation, a related but independent component of social integration, and whether it varies by demographic factors and genetic vulnerability.
methodParticipants from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 12,030) reported on their loneliness, social isolation, and had information on clinical, behavioral, and genetic risk factors. Cognitive status was assessed at baseline and every 2 years over a 10-year follow-up with the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICSm). A TICSm score of 6 or less was indicative of dementia.
resultsCox proportional hazards regression indicated that loneliness was associated with a 40% increased risk of dementia. This association held controlling for social isolation, and clinical, behavioral, and genetic risk factors. The association was similar across gender, race, ethnicity, education, and genetic risk. DISCUSSION: Loneliness is associated with increased risk of dementia. It is one modifiable factor that can be intervened on to reduce dementia risk.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.