In Verbindung bleiben: Soziale Bindungen können alternde Gehirne schützen. Untersuchungen ergaben, dass Personen, die mithilfe spezifischer Screening-Tools als sozial gebrechlich eingestuft wurden, ein um bis zu 50 % höheres Risiko hatten, an Demenz zu erkranken, selbst wenn andere Faktoren wie physische und psychische Gebrechlichkeit berücksichtigt wurden.

Social frailty’ is a major dementia risk. A UNSW researcher is changing how to spot and treat it early.

Clinical psychologist Dr Suraj Samtani says when he looks at an ageing brain, he doesn’t begin with memory tests or brain scans. He starts with how often someone sees a friend, joins a community activity or feels they have someone to confide in.

“Social frailty is when we are vulnerable to losing the resources we need to stay socially connected and to fulfil our social needs,” says the UNSW Sydney postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA).

Dr Samtani’s work focuses on the risk of developing dementia. He says the consequences of being socially disconnected as we get older are profound, with social frailty being linked not only to cognitive decline but higher rates of disability and early death.

“In midlife, risk factors like hearing loss and metabolic syndromes like hypertension and diabetes are very important to prevent and manage,” Dr Samtani says.

“But in late life, social isolation is the biggest risk factor for dementia.”

A national picture
The goal of Dr Samtani’s work is to help older adults with cognitive concerns feel more confident in social situations, to feel connected and potentially improve their quality of life.

While existing treatments focus on improving memory or language within this population, there is currently no treatment that focuses on enhancing or maintaining their social skills and connections.

One of his team’s key outcomes is an evidence-based index to help general practitioners screen for social frailty. This addresses a gap that he says has long hampered prevention efforts.

“We know that it’s really important to screen for social frailty, which is why we’re recommending this index for physicians or GPs to use, because it asks questions about social connections which are directly relevant to dementia risk,” Dr Samtani says.

The research behind the tool so far draws largely from older adults living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs through the long-running Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. This had 1037 participants at baseline, and many were followed up every two years for up to 12 years.

The recently published study, opens in a new window, coauthored by Dr Samtani, followed 851 participants to see which social frailty index would best predict the risk of developing dementia.

The results show socially frail individuals were up to 50% more likely to develop dementia, even after accounting for other factors such as physical and psychological frailty.

https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/80/10/gbaf148/8262985?login=false