Being Single at Midlife May Increase Risk of Dementia

Numerous studies have suggested a link between lifestyle and mental decline. Education, physical activity, mentally demanding work, and various intellectual activities have all been shown to be associated with improved cognitive status in later life. Rich social contacts, too, have been linked to a lower risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Some studies show that living as a couple with someone in a high-quality relationship is associated with better health and delayed mortality. But information on the role of cohabitation in midlife and the onset of dementia has been lacking until now.

Finnish researchers have taken up this challenge, and reported their study in the British Medical Journal online. They examined a collective of 1500 Finns at average age 50 and then again about 20 years later. At both examinations they recorded the subject’s marital status: married or cohabiting; separated or divorced; single; and widowed.

Those participants who were living together with a partner at midlife were less likely than the other categories to have cognitive impairment at the 20-year follow-up time point. Those widowed or divorced both at midlife and still so at follow-up were three times as likely to have cognitive impairment. Those widowed and living alone at both intervals had a 7-fold increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared with those cohabiting at both time points.

This was a Finnish study, and both ethnic and socio-environmental factors are most likely quite different in other countries. However, It seems probable that this study represents major instances of “lack of social contact”. Family, friends, and health providers should watch for isolated widows, widowers, and divorcees in mid-life, and take steps to try and improve their social contacts. Second marriages (or cohabitation) are, after all, quite common in the USA, and contribute to subsequent good health, in most instances.