SynthesisJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2023
Loneliness and Cognitive Function in Older Adults Without Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
44 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 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
- Increasing loneliness in Japan, 1983-2023: a cross-temporal meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness among community-dwelling older adults across biological, clinical and psychosocial domains before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- From verbal fluency to naturalistic speech: a scoping review of language correlates of loneliness and social isolation in older adults.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 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
- [PAPPS update on older people 2024].Atencion primaria · 2024Guideline
- "I Am Not Lonely; I Am Just No Longer Needed": Unnamed Loneliness, Masculinities, Intimacy, and Mental Health Among Older Men in Lisbon, Portugal.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- 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
- Associations between indicators of self-rated health, cognitive function, risk of cognitive impairment, and dementia: A coordinated data analysis.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Loneliness and cognitive function in later life: a population-based counterfactual analysis.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Relationships between In-person and Digital Social Interactions with Family and Friends and Loneliness among Older Adults in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 2024 JACSIS.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2026Article
- Effect of Environment on the Cognition of Older Adults: A Narrative Review.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Loneliness Moderates Affective Responses to Uplifts in Everyday Life.Personality and individual differences · 2026Article
- Hearing loss and loneliness in the development of impaired cognition and dementia in the US All of Us cohort: prospective analyses using electronic health records.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Living alone and risk of dementia, cognitive decline, and institutionalization in the MEMENTO cohort.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Potential Mechanisms of Influence Between Spiritual Practices and Cognitive Health: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Model.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Hearing Loss and Loneliness in the Development of Impaired Cognition and Dementia in the All of Us Cohort: Prospective Analyses Using Electronic Health Records.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist in cognitively unimpaired and mild cognitive impairment individuals.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Article
- Exploring the influence of loneliness on cognitive decline: differential effects in Black and White older adults.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Personality as mechanism: An integrative model of five-factor model personality traits as a mechanism between earlier life factors and cognitive aging.Current opinion in psychology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLoneliness has been highlighted as a risk factor for dementia. However, the nature of the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function prior to onset of dementia is unclear.
objectiveThe aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function in samples screened for dementia at study commencement.
methodsFive electronic databases (PubMed, PsycNET, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Scopus) were searched from inception to August 31, 2021. A narrative review and random-effects meta-analysis were conducted on studies meeting search criteria. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020155539.
resultsThe sixteen studies that met inclusion criteria involved 30,267 individuals, with mean age ranging from 63.0 to 84.9 years. Studies varied in dementia screening criteria, measurement of loneliness and cognitive function, and statistical modeling approach. The narrative review indicated that loneliness was associated with poorer global cognition, episodic memory, working memory, visuospatial function, processing speed, and semantic verbal fluency. Results of the meta-analysis indicated that loneliness was negatively associated with global cognitive function (overall r = -0.08; 95% CI = -0.14, -0.02; n = 6). Due to lack of sufficient data and heterogeneity between studies, we were unable to explore associations with other cognitive domains or longitudinal associations.
conclusionLoneliness is associated with subtle impairment across multiple cognitive domains in older adults who were screened for dementia. Better characterization of this relationship will provide important information about how loneliness contributes to the clinical and pathological sequalae of AD and be informative for risk reduction and early detection strategies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.