How your relationship status could predict your risk of deadly dementia revealed

RELATIONSHIP status and the quality of relationships can significantly impact both mental and physical health.

Strong, supportive connections often lead to better outcomes.

In research published at the end of last year, scientists found .

And a study in 2023 found .

But now a new study has suggested you ditch everything you know about and its health benefits.

Research published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia studied dementia among more than 24,000 adults over 18 years.

All of the unmarried adults – whether divorced or widowed or never married – were found to be at lower risk of developing dementia than the married adults.

Their risk was at least 50 percent lower.

Those who had always been single (never married) had the lowest risk of all, though the difference between them and the other unmarried groups was not statistically significant.

In the study, 24,107 participants between the ages of 50 and 104 (average was 72) were assessed every year over the 18 year period.

Each time, they undertook neuropsychological tests of cognitive status and were evaluated by clinicians.

The results showed people who weren't married were less at risk than the married people for dementia, Alzheimer's or Lewy body dementia.

At the start of the study, some of the participants already had mild cognitive impairment.

Again,it was among the unmarried that their mild impairment was less likely to progress to dementia.

During the study, some of the married participants became widowed.

Those who did were less likely to develop dementia than those who stayed married.

The researchers also looked at other factors that could influence the development of dementia, such as age, sex, race, education, and .

But the key finding emerged over and over again – unmarried people are less likely to develop dementia than married people.

They couldn't say definitely why unmarried people were less likely to develop dementia than married people, but they did suggest single people are better at maintaining their social ties.

Selin Karakose, a Postdoctoral Researcher, Florida State University, and her colleagues said: “Never married individuals are also more likely to socialise with friends and neighbours and are more likely to engage in healthier behaviours than their married counterparts.

“Married individuals tend to have less social integration and are engaged in less frequent and lower-quality interactions in their networks compared to their unmarried counterparts.

“These positive aspects of well-being and social ties may potentially serve as protective factors against dementia over time.”;;