ArticleeLife2023
Impact of social isolation on grey matter structure and cognitive functions: A population-based longitudinal neuroimaging study.
Article in eLife, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 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
- Exploring the effect of multi-modal intervention against cognitive decline on atrophy and small vessel disease imaging markers in the AgeWell.de imaging study.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2025Trial
- [Critical Life Events in the Developement of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain : Results of a qualitative study].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- Review
- Social withdrawal and hippocampal volume among adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis and healthy comparisons: The moderating role of neighborhood residential stability.Schizophrenia research · 2026Article
- Fasting ghrelin as mediator between obesity and depressive symptoms: a pre-registered study.Npj mental health research · 2026Article
- Evaluating MRI correlates of lifestyle-based dementia risk reduction: Results from the AgeWell.de imaging study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Hormonal and Behavioral Consequences of Social Isolation and Loneliness: Neuroendocrine Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Neuroanatomical dimensions in major depression linked to cognition, adverse life events, self-harm, metabolomics and genetics.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Generalized additive mixed models to discern data-driven theoretically informed strategies for public brain, cognitive and mental health.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Social isolation and cognitive decline in older adults: a longitudinal study across 24 countries.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness is associated with attention and predicts risk states of dementia.Brain communications · 2025Article
- Cognitive Disorders In Acquired Sensorineural Hearing Loss, At The Ent Department Of The "Village Bondeko" Center, In Kinshasa.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- Foxq1 activates CB2R with oleamide to alleviate POCD.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Changes in hippocampal volume and affective functioning after a moderate intensity running intervention.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Racial and ethnic disparities in social isolation and 11-year dementia risk among older adults in the United States.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Article
- Associations between sensory impairment and functional limitations among older Chinese adults: mediating roles of social isolation and cognition.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Enduring maternal brain changes and their role in mediating motherhood's impact on well-being.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A central role of sulcal width in the associations of sleep duration and depression with cognition in mid to late life.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2024Article
- The nature of grief: implications for the neurobiology of emotion.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Social isolation has been suggested to increase the risk to develop cognitive decline. However, our knowledge on causality and neurobiological underpinnings is still limited. Methods: In this preregistered analysis, we tested the impact of social isolation on central features of brain and cognitive ageing using a longitudinal population-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. We assayed 1992 cognitively healthy participants (50-82years old, 921women) at baseline and 1409 participants after~6y follow-up. Results: We found baseline social isolation and change in social isolation to be associated with smaller volumes of the hippocampus and clusters of reduced cortical thickness. Furthermore, poorer cognitive functions (memory, processing speed, executive functions) were linked to greater social isolation, too. Conclusions: Combining advanced neuroimaging outcomes with prevalent lifestyle characteristics from a well-characterized population of middle- to older aged adults, we provide evidence that social isolation contributes to human brain atrophy and cognitive decline. Within-subject effects of social isolation were similar to between-subject effects, indicating an opportunity to reduce dementia risk by promoting social networks. Funding: European Union, European Regional Development Fund, Free State of Saxony, LIFE-Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, German Research Foundation.
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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.