Original Article
Association between a Change in Social Interaction and Dementia among Elderly People

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijge.2016.03.006Get rights and content
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Summary

Background

Since limited, specific assessments of social environments have previously been used, with the effect of a change in social interaction proving rare in previous studies, this study sought to clarify the specific association between changes in social interaction and symptoms of dementia.

Methods

The participants were elderly people, aged > 60 years, from a suburban community. All the participants formed part of the investigation from 2008 to 2011. The Index of Social Interaction was used to measure social interaction among elderly people. Data of dementia were obtained from Health and Welfare Center of local government. The chi-square test and a logistical regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between changes in social interaction and dementia.

Results

There were 321 participants without missing data. The results showed that “reading newspapers” was a positive change in social interaction in relation to the risk of dementia (odds ratio = 3.45, confidence interval: 1.04–11.45).

Conclusion

This study focused on changes in social interaction and found that a positive change could help prevent dementia. Specifically, this study indicated that elderly people's engagement with the social environment and in intellectual activities would prevent dementia.

Keywords

dementia
elderly
longitudinal study
social interaction

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Conflicts of interest: All contributing authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.