Background: We aimed to explore whether social relationships and cognitive function were reciprocally related and whether healthy lifestyles mediate their association.
Methods: This study included 3372 Chinese adults from the years 2014-2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.
Results: Baseline social relationships were negatively associated with a change in cognitive function (β = -0.030, p = 0.043). Participants with a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in social relationships had an approximately 6% reduced risk of developing cognitive impairment. However, baseline cognitive function did not independently predict social relationships. The association between △social relationships and △cognitive function was partially mediated by △a healthy lifestyle (B = 0.025, 95% CI = 0.013-0.041).
Conclusions: The association between social relationships and cognitive function may be unidirectional. Policies that promote cognitive function based on social relationships would benefit by taking into account lifestyle factors.
Keywords: Cognitive function; Healthy lifestyle; Longitudinal; Mediating role; Social relationship.
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