Singletons have greater Alzheimer's risk, study says

Updated Thu. Jul. 31 2008 ~  CTV.ca News Staff

Living with a partner or spouse decreases a person's risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, new Swedish research suggests.

Scientists analyzed data from a Finnish study and found that people who lived with a spouse or partner in middle age had a 50 per cent decreased risk of developing dementia compared to those who lived alone.

The researchers also found that how long a person lived alone and under what circumstances both impacted the risk of developing dementia.

Study subjects who lived alone for their entire adult lives had twice the risk for dementia and those who got divorced in middle age and then remained single had three times the risk of dementia.

The greatest risk of developing dementia was found in those who were not yet middle aged when their partner died and then continued to live alone afterward. These subjects had a dementia risk that was six times that of married couples in the study.

"This suggests two influencing factors -- social and intellectual stimulation and trauma," lead researcher, Krister Håkansson of Vaxjo University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said in a statement.

"In practice, it shows how important it is to put resources into helping people who have undergone a crisis. If our interpretation will hold, such an intervention strategy could also be profitable for society considering the costs for dementia care."

Previous research has shown that an active intellectual and social life can decrease a person's risk of developing dementia.

These findings suggest that the social interaction between spouses can help prevent the onset of dementia.

The data for this study came from more than 2,000 people who were first examined at age 50 and then again 21 years later.

The researchers presented their findings at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago.