TABLE 3.

Fully adjusted multivariable analyses of longitudinal associations between social health and cognitive decline

	No cognitive decline n (%)	Cognitive decline n (%)	HR	95% CI	p Value
Women	5230 (85.3%)	824 (13.4%)
Socially isolated (vs. not)	64 (81%)	15 (19%)	1.28	(0.77, 2.15)	0.35
Low social support (vs. not)	82 (80.4%)	20 (19.6%)	1.39	(0.89, 2.18)	0.14
Lonely (vs. not)	282 (85.2%)	49 (14.8%)	0.96	(0.71, 1.30)	0.81
Mutually adjusted
Socially isolated (vs. not)			1.17	(0.68, 2.01)	0.57
Low social support (vs. not)			1.35	(0.84, 2.15)	0.21
Lonely (vs. not)			0.95	(0.70, 1.29)	0.75
Composite social health
Positive	4836 (86.6%)	750 (13.4%)	Reference
Discordanta	112 (81.8%)	25 (18.3%)	1.31	(0.87, 1.95)	0.19
Lonely	282 (85.2%)	49 (14.8%)	0.97	(0.72, 1.32)	0.85
Men	4531 (84.4%)	780 (14.5%)
Socially isolated (vs. not)	122 (86.5%)	19 (13.5%)	0.92	(0.58, 1.45)	0.71
Low social support (vs. not)	103 (83.7%)	20 (16.3%)	1.19	(0.76, 1.85)	0.45
Lonely (vs. not)	181 (81.5%)	41 (18.5%)	0.91	(0.64, 1.27)	0.57
Mutually adjusted
Socially isolated (vs. not)			0.88	(0.55, 1.40)	0.59
Low social support (vs. not)			1.22	(0.77, 1.94)	0.39
Lonely (vs. not)			0.91	(0.64, 1.27)	0.57
Composite social health
Positive	4169 (85.5%)	709 (14.5%)	Reference
Discordanta	181 (85.8%)	30 (14.2%)	0.97	(0.67, 1.40)	0.88
Lonely	181 (81.5%)	41 (18.5%)	0.90	(0.64, 1.27)	0.57

Note: Derived from a population of 11,498 followed for mean 4.5 ± 1.2 SD years. Cognitive decline had 40,249 person years of observation (mean 3.5 ± 1.5 SD years; median 3.1, IQR 5.0-2.9 years; range 0.6 - 7.1 years). Adjusted for age (continuous), gender, level of education (≤12 or >12 years), place of birth (Australia or not Australia), BMI (continuous) and CES-D score (<8 or ≥8).

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio.

^aDiscordant Social Health = socially isolated and/or low social support, but not lonely.