Persistent [loneliness](https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/news/moving-into-senior-living-can-reduce-isolation-loneliness-study-finds/) in people who were over the age of 70 was associated with a higher risk of dementia and cognitive decline. This was especially true in women, a new study finds.
The [report](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gps.70065) was published in the _International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry_ on March 5. Researchers evaluated different patterns of loneliness and found that all of them were more prevalent in women compared to men. Incident loneliness was linked to a higher risk of dementia in men, while persistent loneliness was associated with a higher risk of dementia in women.
Changes in social isolation and low social support were linked to having a greater risk of cognitive decline — but not dementia — in men and women, the authors found.
Data was from about 12,500 Australians over the age of 70 who didn’t have cognitive decline at enrollment. The participants reported their loneliness, social isolation and social support at the start of the study, and about two years later. They were allowed to rate them as never occurring, transient, incident, or persistent.
At the start of the study, 81.1% of men and 71.7% of women said they never felt lonely; 4.9% of men and 8.5% of women reported transient loneliness, 8.4% of men and 11.6% of women reported incident loneliness, and 5.5% of men and 8.3% of women reported persistent loneliness. Baseline loneliness was associated with a 40% higher risk of dementia in women but not men.
Over a median eight-year follow-up, incident loneliness in men and persistent loneliness in women were associated with a greater dementia risk, compared to those who were never lonely. Compared to the never-lonely group, incident loneliness in men was linked with a 52% increased risk of dementia over the course of the study; persistent loneliness in women was associated with a 114% increased risk of dementia. No increased risk for dementia was observed for transient loneliness.
Baseline social isolation was associated with a 43% higher risk for cognitive decline in men, and baseline low social support was associated with a 47% increased risk for cognitive decline in women. Over time, incident loneliness was associated with a 20% increased risk of cognitive decline in men. In women, both incident and persistent loneliness were associated with higher risks for cognitive decline, with 16% and 27% increases, respectively.