The Association between Social Support and Incident Dementia: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study in Japan

Chiyoe Murata, Tami Saito, Masashige Saito and Katsunori Kondo
Additional contact information
Chiyoe Murata: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka, Obu 474-8511, Japan
Tami Saito: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka, Obu 474-8511, Japan
Masashige Saito: Department of Social Welfare, Nihon Fukushi University, Okuda, Chita-gun, Mihamacho 470-3295, Japan
Katsunori Kondo: National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, 7-430 Morioka, Obu 474-8511, Japan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: Social support is important for the health of elderly populations. However, its longitudinal effect on incident dementia is unclear. We used the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) project data to investigate the longitudinal effect of social support on dementia onset. Functionally independent older people at baseline ( n = 14,088) in 10 municipalities were followed from 2003 to 2013 using National Long-term Care Insurance System data. Social support was assessed by the following support sources: co-residing family, family or relatives living apart, and friends or neighbors. Cumulative incidence of dementia was 14.6% and 18.7% for men and women, respectively. Cox proportional hazard models were employed by gender to investigate the association between social support and dementia onset adjusting for age, health status, health behaviors, subjective cognitive complaints, depression, and other socioeconomic factors. Gender differences were observed in the association between social support and incident dementia. Support from co-residing family members was protective among men, whereas among women, no effect of social support on dementia was observed. Among other social factors, community engagement was protective for women, while for men, being married was associated with lower incidence of dementia. The association between social support and dementia seems to differ by gender. When we design programs to promote social interactions among the elderly, we need to take into account such gender differences.

Keywords: social support; dementia; longitudinal study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/2/239/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/2/239/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:2:p:239-:d:198101

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().