Regular Internet usage was associated with approximately half the risk of dementia compared to non-regular usage in new research from New York University.
“Little is known about the long-term cognitive impact of Internet usage among older adults,” said New York University researcher Virginia Chang and her colleagues.
“Our research characterized the association between various measures of Internet usage and dementia.”
For the study, the authors followed 18,154 dementia-free adults aged 50 to 64.9 years for a maximum of 17.1 (median=7.9) years using the Health and Retirement Study.
During follow-up, 4.68% of participants were diagnosed with dementia.
Regular Internet usage was associated with approximately half the risk of dementia compared with non-regular usage.
This link was found regardless of educational attainment, race-ethnicity, sex, and generation.
“The association was maintained after adjustments for self-selection into baseline usage and signs of cognitive decline at the baseline,” the researchers said.
“The difference in risk between regular and non-regular users did not vary by educational attainment, race-ethnicity, sex, and generation.”
“In addition, additional periods of regular usage were associated with significantly reduced dementia risk.”
“However, estimates for daily hours of usage suggested a U-shaped relationship with dementia incidence.”
The lowest risk was observed among adults with 0.1-2 hours of usage, though estimates were non-significant due to small sample sizes.
“Online engagement may help to develop and maintain cognitive reserve, which can in turn compensate for brain aging and reduce the risk of dementia,” Dr. Chang concluded.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
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Gawon Cho et al. Internet usage and the prospective risk of dementia: A population-based cohort study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, published online May 3, 2023; doi:…
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