Social health and prevention of dementia: Integration of human and mice studies

OBJECTIVES: Prevention of dementia is considered a healthcare priority. We aimed to identify potentially modifiable risk factors and mechanisms within the social health domain to find novel avenues to prevent cognitive decline and dementia.

DESIGN: We integrated the results of eight sub-studies of the Social Health in Mice and Men (SHiMMy) project that were separately published in specialized journals, but not yet jointly considered. We followed the integrative methodology of Whittemore and Knafl, using the conceptual framework for social health to structure and integrate the results of human epidemiological and qualitative studies and experimental mice studies. This is a novel multi-method approach.

PARTICIPANTS: Participants of the population-based longitudinal cohort Rotterdam study were included in the epidemiolocal studies (ranging from N = 1259 to N = 3.720) and in the qualitative study (n = 17). Mice intervention studies were performed using a transgenic mouse model for Alzheimer's pathology and matched controls, under group and single housed conditions.

MEASUREMENTS: Epidemiological studies include social health markers (loneliness, perceived social support, marital status) and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. The semi-structured qualitative study used an interview guide. The mice study assessed behavioral and histological markers.

RESULTS: In human and mice studies, we identified several similar potentially modifiable risk (e.g. marital status, social group size) and protective (e.g. perceived social support, behavioral responses) factors. This alignment of findings showing that social health may impact brain health lend further support to our social health hypothesis.

CONCLUSION: These results allow us to propose evidence-based social health targets for preventive interventions.