SynthesisBMC public health2022
The effect of social relationships on cognitive decline in older adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 6 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
75 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- 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
- Walking Interventions and Cognitive Health in Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2025Pooled it
- Ageing effects of social environments in 'non-social' insects.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Pooled it
- The association of social networks and depression in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Examining the association between functional social support, marital status, and memory: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Loneliness and Cognitive Function in Older Adults Without Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Pooled it
- Is my loneliness killing me? Effects of loneliness and social isolation on transitions between cognitive status categories and death.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2026Article
- A continuous-time approach to short-term activity-cognition dynamics.Psychology and aging · 2026Article
- The association of adverse childhood experiences and life course relationship quality with late-life cognitive health: Moderation by race/ethnicity and gender.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Childhood maltreatment and joint trajectories of social isolation and depression as predictors of cognitive impairment in late midlife: a prospective cohort study.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Machine Learning-Based Multidimensional Health Decline Prediction Framework: Data-Driven Modeling for the Middle-Aged and Elderly Population.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Engaging Older Adults With Neurocognitive Disorders in Digital Health Technologies: Scoping Review.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Developing a contextually relevant framework for assessing older adults' access to primary healthcare in Iran: an expert-based qualitative study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- The Association Between Social Isolation, Functional Social Support, and Memory: A Mediation Analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Cross-Sectional Associations of Integrated Lifestyle-Related Factors With Intrinsic Capacity in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Kashiwa Cohort Study.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2026Article
- Structural social factors modify the association between Alzheimer's pathology and cognitive function.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Observational
- High-Impact Participation? Social Activities, Activity Frequency, and Older Adult Cognition.Journal of aging and health · 2026Article
- Effect of Environment on the Cognition of Older Adults: A Narrative Review.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Orbitofrontal PV interneurons modulate social interaction via default mode network dynamics.Communications biology · 2026Article
- AI-Enhanced Automatic Life Story Structuring for Reminiscence Therapy in Older Adults: Technical Feasibility Study.JMIR aging · 2026Article
15 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
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA previous meta-analysis (Kuiper et al., 2016) has shown that multiple aspects of social relationships are associated with cognitive decline in older adults. Yet, results indicated possible bias in estimations of statistical effects due to the heterogeneity of study design and measurements. We have updated this meta-analysis adding all relevant publications from 2012 to 2020 and performed a cumulative meta-analysis to map the evolution of this growing field of research (+80% of studies from 2012-2020 compared to the period considered in the previous meta-analysis).
methodsScopus and Web of Science were searched for longitudinal cohort studies examining structural, functional and combined effects of social relationships. We combined Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using random effects meta-analysis and assessed sources of heterogeneity and the likelihood of publication bias. The risk of bias was evaluated with the Quality of Prognosis Studies in Systematic Reviews (QUIPS) tool.
resultsThe review was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (ID: CRD42019130667). We identified 34 new articles published in 2012-2020. Poor social relationships were associated with cognitive decline with increasing precision of estimates compared to previously reviewed studies [(for structural, 17 articles, OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.08; 1.14) (for functional, 16 articles, OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.05; 1.20) (for combined, 5 articles, OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.06; 1.24)]. Meta-regression, risk and subgroup analyses showed that the precision of estimations improved in recent studies mostly due to increased sample sizes.
conclusionsOur cumulative meta-analysis would confirm that multiple aspects of social relationships are associated with cognitive decline. Yet, there is still evidence of publication bias and relevant information on study design is often missing, which could lead to an over-estimation of their statistical effects.
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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.