ArticleThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2020
Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability.
Article in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- How loneliness and social isolation are linked to cognitive decline among older adults? A systematic review of underlying physiological and psychobehavioral mechanisms.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness and cognition in older adults: A meta-analysis of harmonized studies from the United States, England, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, and Chile.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Health, cognitive, and psychosocial trajectories over nearly a decade as distal antecedents of awareness of age-related change in old age.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Socio-emotional well-being is associated with cognitive function and informant-rated cognitive decline: Results from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol in Europe.Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS · 2026Article
- Joint association of postoperative visual acuity status and baseline loneliness with cognitive impairment after cataract surgery in older adults: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Editorial: International perspectives on older adult social isolation and loneliness.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A Meta-analysis of Loneliness and Risk of Dementia using Longitudinal Data from >600,000 Individuals.Nature. Mental health · 2024Article
- Loneliness and global cognitive functioning in racially and ethnically diverse US midlife and older adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Contributions of loneliness to cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults are independent of other risk factors and Alzheimer's pathology: a narrative review.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Review
- Unraveling the dynamics of loneliness and cognition in late life: a cross-lagged panel model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Associations Between Longitudinal Loneliness, DNA Methylation Age Acceleration, and Cognitive Functioning.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Social Isolation and Loneliness in a Population Study of Cognitive Impairment: The MYHAT Study.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2023Article
- Investigating Biological Pathways Underpinning the Longitudinal Association Between Loneliness and Cognitive Impairment.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2023Article
- Predictors of loneliness onset and maintenance in European older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Is There an Association Between Untreated Hearing Loss and Psychosocial Outcomes?Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Does Low Subjective Social Status Predict Cognitive Decline in Chinese Older Adults? A 4-Year Longitudinal Study From Hong Kong.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2021Article
- Insight into Potential Mechanisms Linking Loneliness and Cognitive Decline: Commentary on "Health Factors as Potential Mediator the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability".The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2020Article
- Is Loneliness a Cause or Consequence of Dementia? A Public Health Analysis of the Literature.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveHigher levels of loneliness in older adulthood predict cognitive decline, but research on mediating mechanisms is sparse. We examine multisystemic physiological risk, functional ability, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and social participation as mediating processes for the association between loneliness and general cognitive ability over a 10-year follow-up in an older adult sample.
methodsThree waves of data from 3,005 individuals (mean intake age: 69.30 (SD: 7.85) years; female = 51.61%) recruited during Wave 1 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project were used to test whether hypothesized mediators collected at the 5-year follow-up explained effects of baseline loneliness on 10-year general cognitive ability.
resultsThe relationship between baseline loneliness and 10-year general cognitive ability was not mediated by multisystemic physiological risk. Functional ability (b = -0.24, SE = 0.05, p <0.001), self-rated health (b = -0.08, SE = 0.02, p <0.001), depressive symptoms (b= -0.20, SE = 0.05, p <0.001), and social participation (b = -0.03, SE = 0.01, p = 0.016) significantly mediated effects. Indirect effects remained significant after adjusting for demographic covariates and 5-year general cognitive ability, except social participation. DISCUSSION: Loneliness may influence cognitive ability indirectly, signaling waning physical and psychiatric health more proximally correlated with cognitive ability. These mechanisms may serve as targets of intervention for cognitive maintenance in lonely older adults.
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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.