Objectives: Dementia is expected to affect one million individuals in the United Kingdom by 2025; its prodromal phase may start decades before its clinical onset. The aim of this study is to investigate whether use of internet from 50 years of age is associated with a lower incidence of dementia over a ten-year follow-up. Methods: We analysed data based on 8,238 dementia free (at baseline in 2002–2004) core participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Information on baseline use of internet was obtained through questionnaires; dementia casesness was based on participant (or informant) reported physician diagnosed dementia or overall score on the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used for examining the relationship between internet use and incident dementia. Results: There were 301 (5.01%) incident dementia cases during the follow-up. After full multivariable adjustment for potential confounding factors, baseline internet use was associated with a 40% reduction in dementia risk assessed between 2006–2012 (HR = 0.60 CI: 0.42–0.85; p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that use of internet by individuals aged 50 years or older is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Additional studies are needed to better understand the potential causal mechanisms underlying this association.

This study aimed to investigate the association between self-reported hearing loss and cognitive impairment in older adults in a city in Southern Brazil. In this cross-sectional, population-based cohort study of older adults, data were collected in the third wave of the EpiFloripa Aging study (2017/2019), which had been performed since 2009 in the city of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State. Cognitive impairment was the dependent variable analyzed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and self-reported hearing loss, which was included in the cohort only in the last wave, was the main exposure variable. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, considering the study design and sample weights. Data from 1,335 older adults were evaluated. The prevalence was 20.5% for cognitive impairment and 10.7% for hearing loss. Older adults with hearing loss were 2.66 (95%CI: 1.08-6.54) times more likely to have cognitive impairment than older adults without hearing loss. The association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment highlights the need to integrate the early identification of these problems into primary care, as both are risk factors for healthy aging and potentially preventable and/or treatable conditions.

Background: Older adults are one of the most susceptible populations to depression, especially those living in low- and middle-income countries. As well, they are also considering a risk group for vitamin D deficiency. Low serum vitamin D has been associated with an increased risk of brain neuropsychiatry disorders. We aimed to investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations and depressive symptoms in adults aged 60 years and over from southern Brazil.Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using data collected during 2013–2014 from the populational-based longitudinal EpiFloripa Aging Study (n = 1197). Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol concentrations were analyzed and classified according to the Endocrine Society reference values [sufficiency (≥ 30 ng/mL), insufficiency (21–29 ng/mL), and deficiency (≤ 20 ng/mL)]. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale (15-item GDS). Logistic regression was performed to assess depressive symptoms in each vitamin D category. The analysis was adjusted for sex, age, skin color, family income, leisure-time physical activities, social or religious groups attendance, morbidities, cognitive impairment, and dependence in activities of daily living.Results: A total of 557 participants with complete data for exposure and outcome were enrolled in the analysis. Most of the sample participants were female (63.1%), age-range 60–69 years (42.2%), white skin color (85.1%), and vitamin D serum level samples were collected in autumn (50.7%). Depressive symptoms were present in 15.8% of the participants, and the prevalence was higher in individuals classified as deficient in vitamin D (23.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 15.6;32.9) and insufficiency (17.2, 95%CI = 11.0;25.9). The crude analysis showed that vitamin D deficient participants had 3.08 (CI = 1.53;6.20) times higher odds to present depressive symptoms compared to vitamin D sufficiency. After adjusting, the association was maintained [OR 2.27 (95%CI = 1.05;4.94).Conclusions: Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol deficiency was positively associated with depressive symptoms in older adults from southern Brazil.