• Corpus ID: 19004389

The eff ect of social networks on the relation between Alzheimer ’ s disease pathology and level of cognitive function in old people : a longitudinal cohort study

@inproceedings{Bennett2004TheEE,
  title={The eff ect of social networks on the relation between Alzheimer ’ s disease pathology and level of cognitive function in old people : a longitudinal cohort study},
  author={David A. Bennett and Julie A. Schneider and Yuxiao Tang and Steven E. Arnold and Robert S. Wilson},
  year={2004}
}

• D. Bennett, J. Schneider, +2 authors R. Wilson
• Published 2004
• Psychology

Introduction Several clinicopathological studies over the past two decades have shown that many elderly people with extensive pathology of Alzheimer’s disease do not clinically manifest cognitive impairment. This ability to tolerate the pathology of this disease without obvious clinical consequences is increasingly referred to as cognitive or neural reserve. Identifi cation of factors associated with neural reserve has important implications for disease prevention. For example, one such factor is education. Clinicopathological studies suggest that the relation between quantitative measures of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and level of cognition diff er by duration of formal education. Another potential factor that could modify this relation is social networks. Social networks have been related to a reduced risk of death and a reduction in a wide variety of adverse health outcomes in old people. Several studies have also examined the relation between the extent of social ties and cognitive function and dementia. Most, but not all, showed that people with more extensive social networks were at reduced risk of cognitive impairment. Little is known about the cellular, molecular, and neuropathology of social networks and potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying this association. Although social networks could be directly related to the accumulation of Alzheimer’s disease pathology, it seems more likely that social network size is related to reserve capacity capable of reducing the likelihood that the disease pathology will be clinically expressed as cognitive impairment. We aimed to test this hypothesis using data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project—a large, longitudinal, epidemiological, clinicopathological study of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.