title: Loneliness and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: Findings From the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function and to explore the mediating role of physical health on the loneliness-cognition relationship in Chinese older adults (OAs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data came from a nationally representative sample of 14,199 Chinese OAs (aged 65+) from 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. A latent variable cross-lagged panel model combined with mediation analysis was used to determine the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function and the mediating effect of increase in the number of chronic conditions (ΔNCCs) on the ascertained loneliness-cognition relationship.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Severe loneliness at prior assessment points was significantly associated with poorer cognitive function at subsequent assessments, and vice versa. The ΔNCCs partially mediated this prospective reciprocal relationships, accounting for 2.58% of the total effect of loneliness on cognition and 4.44% of the total effect of cognition on loneliness, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Loneliness may predict subsequent cognitive decline, and vice versa. This loneliness-cognition relationship is partially explained by their impact on physical health. Multidisciplinary interventions aimed at reducing loneliness and cognitive decline per se and their associated risk factors as well as improving chronic illness management would be beneficial for emotional well-being and cognitive health in OAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York. Baoliang_Zhong@URMC.Rochester.edu.|Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Bao-Liang
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.|Department of Psychology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.
authors.forename: Yeates
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Conwell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D000066492:Cognitive Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008136:Longevity; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Chronic condition; Cognitive function; Cross-lagged panel analysis; Loneliness; Mediation; Older adults