The Cognitive Health Risk of Social Isolation Mediated by Dietary Risks: A Study with Older Korean Americans

Objectives: Building upon the widely known link between social isolation and cognitive health amongolder adults, we examined the mediating role of dietary risk in older Korean Americans. We anticipate thatsocial isolation increases dietary risk, which in turn leads to the risk of cognitive impairment. Methods:Drawing data from the Study of Older Korean Americans (N=2,061, mean age = 73 years), we examined thepredictive models with social isolation as an exposure, dietary risk as a mediator, and cognitive impairmentas an outcome. Results: Supporting the hypotheses, we found that being isolated was associated withhaving cognitive impairment and that dietary risk served as an intervening step between social isolationand cognitive impairment. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the negative impact of social isolationon cognitive health is through its role in dietary habits and practice. Findings helped our understandingof how social isolation yields cognitive health risks and called attention to dietary risks in cognitive healthpromotion efforts. Targeted approaches should be taken for older immigrants who are socially isolated.