# Advancing the Study of Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults Through the Use of Integrative Data Analysis

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $592,274

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Impoverished social relationships are major contributors to morbidity and mortality, rivaling the effects of
established risk factors such as cigarette smoking and obesity. Both social isolation (the lack of social contact)
and loneliness (the perception of being alone) have been linked with cognitive morbidity and risk of Alzheimer's
and related dementias (ADRD) in older adults, but the relative contribution of loneliness and social isolation to
cognitive outcomes remain poorly understood. Similarly, the extent to which the discordance between social
isolation and loneliness accumulates across the adult life span, from midlife to old age, and whether this
relates to cognitive morbidity, decline, and dementia risk in older adults is unknown. Of particular interest is the
extent to which older adults' vulnerability to isolation and loneliness is amplified amid physical distancing
measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-terms impacts this may have on
cognitive health. This proposal will investigate the hypothesis that changes in the degree of overlap or
discordance between subjective feelings of loneliness and objective social network size (social asymmetry)
contribute to cognitive function, decline, and dementia risk, and intensify older adults' cognitive vulnerability
during COVID-19. To achieve the goals of the project, we will capitalize on existing large-scale longitudinal
studies that have collected a broad array of psychosocial and cognitive factors, including repeated
assessments of social isolation, loneliness, and established indicators of cognitive functioning (e.g., numeric
and abstract reasoning, fluency, speed of processing and reaction time, working and episodic memory). The
proposed project will use a coordinated integrative data analysis (IDA) approach to investigate whether
changes in social asymmetry predict cognitive outcomes across eleven representative, prospective,
longitudinal cohort studies of aging (BHPS/US, ELSA, HILDA, HRS, LISS, Octo-Twin, SATSA, SHARE, SHP,
SOEP, and UCL COVID-19 Social Study) with a combined N of over 220,000). The central hypothesis of this
proposal is that susceptibility to loneliness may be characterized by the discrepancy between objective and
subjective aspects of social relationships which 1) is evident across middle and later adulthood; 2) contributes
to cognitive decline in old age; and 3) exacerbates cognitive vulnerability in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic. The findings from this study will provide novel insights into the interplay between social isolation and
loneliness over time, as well as how dynamic patterns of social asymmetry are linked to diverse cognitive
outcomes in older adults. Better understanding of the role of social disparities in cognitive aging may lead to
evidence-based strategies for addressing social isolation and loneliness in older adults, identification of
modifiable social factors that may prevent or slow the progre...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10896223
- **Project number:** 5R01AG082954-02
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Eileen Kranz Graham
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $592,274
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10896223

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10896223, Advancing the Study of Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults Through the Use of Integrative Data Analysis (5R01AG082954-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10896223. Licensed CC0.

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