ADVERTISEMENT
Regular Internet Use May Reduce Dementia Risk in Older Adults
Older adults who used the internet regularly had about half the risk of dementia compared with their peers who did not, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
“Online engagement may help to develop and maintain cognitive reserve, which can in turn compensate for brain aging and reduce the risk of dementia,” said corresponding author Virginia W. Chang, MD, PhD, of New York University, New York, New York.
Related: FDA Fully Approves Lecanemab-IRMB For Early Alzheimer Disease Treatment
To investigate the association between internet use and dementia, Dr Chang and colleagues analyzed data for 18,154 adults, aged 50 to 65 years, over a median 8 years and a maximum 17 years. Among participants, nearly two-thirds were regular internet users at baseline, and one-third were not. Over follow-up, 4.68% of the study population developed dementia.
Compared with nonregular internet use, regular internet use at baseline was linked with approximately half the risk of dementia, analysis showed. Researchers reported a cause-specific hazard ratio of 0.57. The difference in dementia risk between participants who did and did not use the internet regularly was consistent regardless of educational attainment, race-ethnicity, sex, and generation.
The study also found that periods of regular use in late adulthood were associated with significantly reduced dementia risk; the cause-specific hazard ratio was 0.80. The finding, researchers wrote, suggests that cognitive health can be modified by changes in internet use, even in late adulthood.
“Moreover, we found daily hours of online engagement to have a U-shaped association with the risk of dementia,” researchers wrote. “Although we did not see statistical significance due to a small sample size, the consistent U-shaped trend offers a preliminary suggestion that excessive online engagement may have adverse cognitive effects on older adults.”
The lowest dementia risk, according to the study, was among adults who used the internet between 0.1 and 2 hours a day.
“Since a person’s online engagement may include a wide range of activities, future research may identify different patterns of internet usage associated with the cognitively healthy lifespan while being mindful of the potential side effects of excessive usage,” researchers advised.
References
