Can volunteering in later life reduce the risk of dementia? A 5-year longitudinal study among volunteering and non-volunteering retired seniors.

Gianluigi Forloni,Yannick Griep,Tim Vantilborgh,Linda Magnusson Hanson,Martin Hyde,Samantha K Jones,Laurens Janssens

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173885

Gianluigi Forloni, Yannick Griep + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173885

Copy DOI

Abstract

We propose that voluntary work, characterized by social, physical and cognitive activity in later life is associated with fewer cognitive problems and lower dementia rates. We test these assumptions using 3-wave, self-reported, and registry data from the 2010, 2012, and 2014 Swedish National Prescribed Drug Register. We had three groups of seniors in our data: 1) no volunteering (N = 531), 2) discontinuous volunteering (N = 220), and 3) continuous volunteering (N = 250). We conducted a path analysis in Mplus to investigate the effect of voluntary work (discontinuously and continuously) on self-reported cognitive complaints and the likelihood of being prescribed an anti-dementia treatment after controlling for baseline and relevant background variables. Our results indicated that seniors, who continuously volunteered, reported a decrease in their cognitive complaints over time, whereas no such associations were found for the other groups. In addition, they were 2.44 (95%CI [1.86; 3.21]) and 2.46 (95%CI [1,89; 3.24]) times less likely to be prescribed an anti-dementia treatment in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Our results largely support the assumptions that voluntary work in later life is associated with lower self-reported cognitive complaints and a lower risk for dementia, relative to those who do not engage, or only engage episodically in voluntary work.

Highlights

As people age, the risk of dementia increases substantially [1]
The reported means for previous illnesses or complaints and anti-dementia treatment likelihoods refer to the percentage of respondents who indicated that they were suffering from a previous illness or complaint and were prescribed an anti-dementia treatment, respectively
Anderson and colleagues [17] proposed that the increased social, physical, and cognitive activity that accompanies the enactment of voluntary work might bolster retired seniors from the risk of memory impairment and dementia in later life

Summary

Introduction

The risk of dementia increases substantially [1]. Delaying dementia onset by a few years would have enormous benefits for the health and social care sectors, and would have huge implications for the psychological well-being of the patients and their lovedones [2]. Following the work of Fratiglioni and colleagues [3], who demonstrated that social, physical, and cognitive activity protects retired seniors from cognitive decline, we introduce voluntary work—defined as 1) activities performed out of free will, 2) without receiving.

Methods

Results

Conclusion