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Citation
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Hikichi H, Tsuboya T, Aida J, Matsuyama Y, Kondo K, Subramanian SV, Kawachi I. Lancet Planet. Health 2017; 1(3): e105-e113. |
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Affiliation
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Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: We examined prospectively whether social capital mitigates the adverse effects of natural disaster on cognitive decline.
METHODS: The baseline for our study was established seven months before the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in a survey of older community-dwelling adults who lived 80 kilometers west of the epicenter (59.0% response rate). Approximately two and a half years after the disaster, the follow-up survey gathered information about personal experiences of disaster as well as incidence of cognitive disability (82.1% follow-up rate). Our primary outcome was cognitive disability (measured on an 8-level scale) assessed by in-home assessment.
FINDINGS: The experience of housing damage was associated with risk of cognitive impairment (coefficient = 0.04, 95% confidence interval: 0.02 to 0.06). Factor analysis of our analytic sample (n = 3,566) established two sub-scales of social capital: a cognitive dimension (perceptions of community social cohesion) and a structural dimension (informal socializing and social participation). Fixed effects regression showed that informal socializing and social participation buffered the risk of cognitive decline resulting from housing damage.
INTERPRETATION: Informal socializing and social participation may prevent cognitive impairment following natural disaster. FUNDING: National Institutes of Health (R01AG042463-04), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Language: en |