ArticlePsychosomatic medicine2023
Childhood Social Isolation as a Predictor of Retinal Neuronal Thickness in Middle Age: A Lifecourse Birth Cohort Study.
Article in Psychosomatic medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social Isolation Trajectories Spanning Childhood to Adulthood and Mortality Risk in CKM Syndrome: Evidence From CHARLS.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Associations of childhood economic and psychosocial conditions with later-life cognitive function: a longitudinal analysis of the China health and retirement longitudinal study (2011-2020).BMC public health · 2026Article
- The Retinal Age Gap as a Marker of Accelerated Aging in the Early Course of Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Associations of Life-Course Social Isolation Trajectories and Depressive Symptoms With the Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
- Social isolation from childhood to mid-adulthood: is there an association with older brain age?Psychological medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe investigated whether childhood social isolation was associated with retinal neural layer changes in adulthood, and whether this association was independent of other childhood or adulthood risk factors, including adult social isolation.
methodsParticipants were members of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal population-based birth cohort from Aotearoa New Zealand ( n = 1037), born 1972 to 1973 and followed until age 45 years, with 94% of the living cohort still participating. Social isolation was recorded prospectively at ages 5, 7, 9, and 11 years, from teacher and parent report. Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thicknesses were measured via optical coherence tomography at age 45 years.
resultsChildhood social isolation was associated with thinner average RNFL ( B = -0.739, p = .02), nasal RNFL ( B = -1.118, p = .005), and inferior RNFL ( B = -1.524, p = .007), although only nasal RNFL remained significant after adjustment. These associations were not fully explained by other psychosocial or physical health risk factors in childhood or adulthood, nor were they mediated by adult loneliness or social support.
conclusionsChildhood social isolation was an independent predictor of RNFL thickness in middle age. Highlighting prospective links between childhood psychosocial adversity and retinal neuronal measures will help to inform future research into the utility of retinal neuronal thickness as a biomarker for neurodegeneration.
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