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 In the study of nearly 7,000 middle aged and older men and women,
cognitive functioning declined over time for everyone, but it
degraded slightly more and slightly faster for those who had been
widowed, regardless of whether they remarried.
At the same time, having a high level of education or at least one
living sibling appeared to protect against the decline associated
with widowhood, the study team reports in the American Journal of
Geriatric Psychiatry.
"We've all come to know the importance of cognitive functioning
among older adults," said study co-author Giyeon Kim, a psychology
researcher at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea.
"While we expected to find the effect of widowhood status on
cognitive decline, we were fascinated by our findings on the
protective effects of having at least one living sibling and higher
education," Kim told Reuters Health by email.
On the theory that stress contributes over time to cognitive
decline, and widowhood would bring added stress, the researchers
analyzed data on 6,766 U.S. adults over age 50 who took part in the
1996-2012 Health and Retirement Study. The study team assessed
widow/widower status, cognitive functioning test scores and other
factors such as bereavement, education, remarriage, health status,
race and living family members.
The cognitive functioning score was based on several tasks,
including immediate word recall, delayed word recall, counting
backwards from 20, and ability to name objects, data and current
president and vice president.
The analysis found that 2,742 adults overall experienced widowhood,
and in the oldest age group - over age 70 - the majority of
individuals were widowed by the end of the study period.
Cognitive scores for widows/widowers were consistently more than
half a point lower than for peers who were not widowed. Further,
every additional year of widowhood decreased individuals' cognition
score by a quarter of a point. The decline occurred regardless of
remarriage status or the spouse's condition before death, the
researchers note.
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The loneliness associated with widowhood may be a major part of the
cognitive decline, and having living siblings, adult children and
friends can provide that social interaction to prevent some decline,
said Anna Sundstrom of Umea University in Sweden, who wasn't
involved in the study.
"Widowhood has a deep negative impact on both mental and physical
health," Sundstrom said in an email. "The growth of the aging
population worldwide may bring with it an increasing number of
lonely elderly."
"There are also things you can do now to protect your cognition as
you age," said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and
outreach at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, who wasn't
involved in the study.
The Alzheimer's Association offers a resource called 10 Ways to Love
Your Brain (https://bit.ly/2xXvEE4) listing lifestyle habits that
help stave off cognitive decline. For instance, healthy eating,
exercise, sleep, education and social activity help the brain to age
slower, Fargo said.
"It's easy to fall into a fatalistic attitude that our cognition
will get worse as we get older, but we can do things now to keep it
as healthy as we can," he said in a telephone interview.
"Now is the time to start," Fargo added. "Don't wait until something
negative such as widowhood happens. These are lifelong habits that
you can't start too soon."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2vtMD4i American Journal of Geriatric
Psychiatry, online March 26, 2018.
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