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The relationship between the amount of Alzheimer's disease pathology and cognitive performance changed with the size of the social network. As the size of the social network increased, the same amount of pathology had less effect on cognitive test scores. In other words, for persons without much pathology, social network size had little effect on cognition. However, as the amount of pathology increased, the apparent protective effect on cognition also increased. Thus, social network size appears to have offered a protective reserve capacity despite the fact that their brains had the tangles and plaques indicative of Alzheimer's disease.

The effect was evident across different kinds of cognitive abilities, but was most evident for semantic memory, which is the repository of knowledge about the world and is fundamentally involved in unique human cognitive processes such as language. The results were unchanged after controlling for cognitive, physical, and social activities, depressive symptoms, or number of chronic diseases.

"Identifying factors associated with the ability to tolerate the pathology of Alzheimer's disease has important implications for disease prevention," said Bennett. "Previous studies suggest one factor is education. Now we know that healthy and frequent interactions with friends and family have a positive impact as well."

The researchers are extremely grateful for the remarkable dedication and altruism of the volunteers participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project. The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes on Aging, which leads the Federal effort to support and conduct basic, clinical, and social and behavioral studies on aging and on Alzheimer's disease.

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Contact: Kim Waterman
Kimberly_Waterman@rush.edu
312-942-7820
Rush University Medical Center
21-Apr-2006