Social isolation, loneliness and all-cause dementia: a longitudinal and imaging-genetic study in the UK Biobank cohort
Preprint
- 6 July 2021
- preprint
- research article
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Current findings of the relative influence of social isolation and loneliness on dementia are contradictory, and the potential neurobiological mechanisms are unclear. METHODS We utilized the UK Biobank to investigate the relationships of social isolation and loneliness with dementia (n = 462,619). Neuroanatomical correlates were identified in a subset of participants (n = 32,263). The transcriptomic signatures of related brain changes were characterized by gene enrichment analysis. RESULTS After full adjustment, social isolation but not loneliness was associated with dementia (hazard ratio: 1.28, 95% confidence interval: 1.17-1.39). Isolated individuals had reduced gray matter volumes in temporal, frontal, occipital and subcortical regions (e.g., hippocampus and amygdala). Relevant brain changes were spatially correlated with genes involved in mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative phosphorylation, and down-regulated Alzheimer’s disease-related genes. DISCUSSION Social isolation is an independent risk factor for dementia, which could be partly explained by related structural changes coupling with altered molecular functions.Keywords
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