PARIS—People who live alone in middle age face nearly double the risk of developing cognitive problems in later life compared with married or cohabiting counterparts, according to a study published Friday.
Researchers interviewed 2,000 people selected randomly in the Kuopio and Joensuu regions of eastern Finland in the 1970s and 80s, when their average age was 50.4 years.
A total of 1,409 of the volunteers were then re-examined in 1998 for cognitive impairment, when their ages ranged from 65 to 79.
Of these, 57 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia; 82 had mild cognitive impairment; the remaining 1,270 were otherwise healthy.
“People living without a partner at mid-life had around twice the risk of developing cognitive impairment in later life compared with people living with a partner,” the study found.
The risk was roughly triple among those who had been widowed or divorced in mid-life and were not living in partnership in later life.
Education, smoking habits and other variables that are known to affect cognitive impairment were all taken into account.
The investigators found a big difference between the sexes.
Compared with co-habitants, men who lived alone in mid-life were two and a half times likelier to develop cognitive impairment later in life. The risk for women, though, was 1.87 times.
They also found a powerful link between Alzheimer’s, living alone and a variant of a gene called apolipoprotein E-e4, which makes a protein associated with this disorder.
The paper, headed by Miia Kivipelto, an associate professor in aging research at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, is published online by the British Medical Journal.
Living with a partner “might imply cognitive and social challenges” that help shield against dementia, but why this could be so has to be explained, the authors say.
In 2005 an estimated 25 million people had dementia, and the tally is expected to reach 81.1 million in 2040, according to figures quoted in the study. –AFP
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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September –
5 Sept – Intl Day of Charity
7 Sept – Intl Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
8 Sept – International Literacy Day
12 Sept – United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
15 Sept – International Day of Democracy
16 Sept – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
17 Sept – World Patient Safety Day
18 Sept – International Equal Pay Day
21 Sept – International Day of Peace
26 Sept – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
27 Sept – World Tourism Day
28 Sept – International Day for Universal Access to Information
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30 Sept – World Maritime Day
Monthly Observances:
Health, Safety and Sanitation Month
National Clean-up Month
Civil Service Month
National Peace Consciousness Month
Social Security Month
Rule of Law Month
National Teachers’ Month (Sept 5-Oct 4)
Weekly Observances:
Sept 17 – 23:
World Clean and Green Week
Week 2: Education Week
Week 4: Medicine Week
Last Week: National Family Week
Daily Observances:
Third Saturday:
International Coastal Clean-up Day
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Last Friday: National Maritime Day
Sept 8: National Literacy Day
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