Skip Navigation



IJE Advance Access published online on March 11, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dyi049
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
34/4/864    most recent
dyi049v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in Int. J. Epidemiol.
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Glei, D. A.
Right arrow Articles by Weinstein, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Glei, D. A.
Right arrow Articles by Weinstein, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2005; all rights reserved.
Accepted January 31, 2005

Original paper

Participating in social activities helps preserve cognitive function: an analysis of a longitudinal, population-based study of the elderly

Dana A. Glei 1, David A. Landau 2, Noreen Goldman 3, Yi-Li Chuang 4, Germán Rodríguez 3, and Maxine Weinstein 1*

1 Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
2 Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA; St Antony's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
3 Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA
4 Center for Population and Health Survey Research, Department of Health, Taichung, Taiwan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Maxine Weinstein, E-mail: weinstma{at}georgetown.edu


  Abstract

Background This study examines how changes in cognition over time are related to participation in social activities and the extent of social networks.

Methods Data are drawn from a population-based, longitudinal study that began in 1989 among elderly Taiwanese. An over-dispersed Poisson model is used to regress the number of failed cognitive tasks (0-5) in 1996, 1999, and 2000 on prior measures of cognitive impairment, social activities, social networks, health status, and sociodemographic characteristics. The analysis sample comprises 2387 individuals, who contribute a total of 4603 observations across three survey intervals (1993-96, 1996-99, 1999-2000).

Results After adjusting for prior cognitive impairment, baseline health status, and sociodemographic factors, respondents who participated in one or two social activities failed 13% fewer cognitive tasks (P < 0.01) than those with no social activities; those who engaged in three or more activities failed 33% fewer cognitive tasks (P < 0.001). In contrast, none of the social network measures was related to cognitive impairment.

Conclusions Despite a social structure where elderly persons often live with their children and social interaction is likely to be more family-centered than in western countries, data from Taiwan suggest that participation in social activities outside the family may have a bigger impact on cognitive function than social contacts with family or non-relatives.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; cognitive function; social networks; social activity; social contact; Taiwan.
A Commentary has been commissioned to accompany this article and will appear with this paper in the printed issue.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?

Related articles in Int. J. Epidemiol.:

Commentary: Activity each day keeps dementia away--does social interaction really preserve cognitive function?
J. Gallacher, A. Bayer, and Y. Ben-Shlomo
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2005 10.1093/ije/dyi107. [Abstract]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Epidemiol RevHome page
N. Coley, S. Andrieu, V. Gardette, S. Gillette-Guyonnet, C. Sanz, B. Vellas, and A. Grand
Dementia Prevention: Methodological Explanations for Inconsistent Results
Epidemiol. Rev., September 8, 2008; (2008) mxn010v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
J Gallacher, A Bayer, and Y Ben-Shlomo
Commentary: Activity each day keeps dementia away--does social interaction really preserve cognitive function?
Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2005; 34(4): 872 - 873.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.