OBJECTIVE: To study the association between the number of area-level and individual-level social participation items and cognitive function in the community-dwelling older populations of three towns in Hokkaido, Japan. METHODS: A survey on the frequency of social participation was mailed to those in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study 2013 who were aged ≥65 years, were not certified as needing long-term care, and lived in Higashikawa, Higashikagura, or Biei. A subset of participants aged 70-74 years completed the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in a home visit survey. Both the area-level and individual-level social participation and demographic information were obtained on the self-administered questionnaire. A multilevel analysis using a generalized linear mixed-effects model was used to examine the association between variables in the area-level and individual-level social participation items and cognitive function. RESULTS: Out of 4042 respondents, data from 2576 were used in the area-level analysis. Of those, 180 were aged 70-74 years and completed the home visit survey for the individual-level analysis. A greater number of higher social participation items at the individual level was associated with higher cognitive function scores after adjusting for area-level social participation variables and confounders (regression coefficient: 0.19; 95% confidence interval: 0.03, 0.35). There were no significant associations between area-level social participation item averages and individual-level cognitive function scores. CONCLUSIONS: Older populations participating in many kinds of social activities exhibited preserved cognitive function even after adjusting for area-level social participation variables.
OBJECTIVE: To study the association between the number of area-level and individual-level social participation items and cognitive function in the community-dwelling older populations of three towns in Hokkaido, Japan. METHODS: A survey on the frequency of social participation was mailed to those in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study 2013 who were aged ≥65 years, were not certified as needing long-term care, and lived in Higashikawa, Higashikagura, or Biei. A subset of participants aged 70-74 years completed the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in a home visit survey. Both the area-level and individual-level social participation and demographic information were obtained on the self-administered questionnaire. A multilevel analysis using a generalized linear mixed-effects model was used to examine the association between variables in the area-level and individual-level social participation items and cognitive function. RESULTS: Out of 4042 respondents, data from 2576 were used in the area-level analysis. Of those, 180 were aged 70-74 years and completed the home visit survey for the individual-level analysis. A greater number of higher social participation items at the individual level was associated with higher cognitive function scores after adjusting for area-level social participation variables and confounders (regression coefficient: 0.19; 95% confidence interval: 0.03, 0.35). There were no significant associations between area-level social participation item averages and individual-level cognitive function scores. CONCLUSIONS: Older populations participating in many kinds of social activities exhibited preserved cognitive function even after adjusting for area-level social participation variables.
Authors: Rachel L Peterson; Kristen M George; Duyen Tran; Pallavi Malladi; Paola Gilsanz; Amy J H Kind; Rachel A Whitmer; Lilah M Besser; Oanh L Meyer Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-07-04 Impact factor: 4.614