The Association between Social Network, Socio-Demographic Variables and Cognitive Functions of a Nigerian Sample of Elderly People

The association between socio-demographic factors (age, gender, education, income, bridge employment, residential area and social network) and cognitive function in a sample of elderly people aged 65-75 years was investigated in a Nigerian setting. The data was obtained from 640 respondents with structured questionnaire containing scales for measuring social network (children, extended family, friends, neighbours and participation in clubs/societies), a sixitem cognitive function screener and self-rated memory. Cross tabulation and chi square analyses revealed significant associations (P=0.000-0.021) between all the socio-demographic factors tested except gender. This indicated that high social network, good education, favourable income and living in an environment with good security and devoid of noise, promotes cognitive function. This report substantiates findings on cognitive function from other parts of the world in related researches concerning old people thereby suggesting that modulation of the ageing process is identical accross the world, cultural influence notwithstanding.Key words: Cognitive function, old age, social network, socio-economic factors.Ageing is known to be associated with physical and mental deterioration. Many research reports have shown that the course of physical and mental deterioration can be influenced or mitigated or modulated by the characteristic of the individual and a number of factors. The factors may be physical activities, social network and engagement, recreation, leisure or socio-demographic all of which promote healthy ageing (Barnes, Mendes de Leon, Wilson, Bienias & Evans, 2004; Bassuk, Glass & Berkman, 1999; Fabre, Masse-Biron, Chamari, Varray, Mucci & Prefaut, 1999; Iwasa, Yoshida, Kai, Suzuki, Kim & Yoshida, 2012; Litwin, 2000; Mendes de Leon, Glass & Berkman, 2003; Menee, 2003; Nimrod & Adoni, 2006; Philips, Arber and Ginn, 2001; Zaranek & Chapleski, 2005).Researchers have demonstrated that women tend to have higher levels of memoiy function than men but no difference in cognitive decline have been observed (Aartsen, Martin, & Zimprich, 2004; Maitland, Intrieri, Schaie, & Willis, 2000; Steel, Huppert, McWilliams, & Melzer, 2004). Socio-economic factors such as education, income and occupational level have been reported to be are associated with cognitive decline (Farmer, Kittner, Rae, Bartko, & Regier, 1995; Lee, Kawachi, Berkman and Grodstein, 2002; Wilson, Scherr, Barnes, Mendes de Leon, & Evans, 2009). There are also indications of relationships between environmental characteristics and ageing (Hunter, Sykes, Lowman, Duncan, Satarino, & Belza, 2011). Old people living in noisy areas, heavy traffic, crime-prone areas, general, insecurity and poor lightings become vulnerable to loss of cognitive function while reverse is the case for an environment devoid of these unfavourable conditions (Balfour & Kaplan, 2002; Berke, Koepsell, Moudon, Hoskins, & Larson, 2007; Clark, Kawachi, Ryan, Ertel, Fay, & Berkman, 2009; Foster & Giles-Corti, 2008).In Nigeria the care for the aged is largely undertaken within the traditional extended family system hence old peoples' homes are veiy few. However, modernisation resulting in people leaving their communities to work in distant places is beginning to reduce the efficacy of care-giving extended family system. It is therefore, important that studies be undertaken to identify important socio-demographic factors that may affect the livelihood of old people in a Nigerian setting in order to promote successful ageing. The paucity of information concerning this issue in a Nigerian setting was the impetus for this preliminaiy investigation aimed at identifying the relationship between some sociodemographic factors and the cognitive function of elderly people in Nigeria.MethodData sourceThe data for the study were obtained from respondents aged 65-75 years and drawn from five major towns (Asaba, Agbor, Warri and Sapele) in Delta State, Nigeria through structured questionnaire. …