Association between mid-life marital status and cognitive function in later life: population based cohort study

Abstract

Living in a relationship with a partner might imply cognitive and social challenges that have a protective effect against cognitive impairment later in life, consistent with the brain reserve hypothesis. The specific increased risk for widowed and divorced people compared with single people indicates that other factors are needed to explain parts of the results. A sociogenetic disease model might explain the dramatic increase in risk of Alzheimer's disease for widowed apolipoprotein E e4 carriers.