Prior research has shown that older adult internet users have"better overall cognitive performance, verbal reasoning, and memory," compared with nonusers, the authors note.
Cho said the motivation for the study was the lack of longitudinal studies on this topic, especially those with sufficient follow-up periods. In addition, she said, there is insufficient evidence about how changes in internet usage in older age are associated with prospective dementia risk. The study's primary outcome was incident dementia, based on performance on the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status , which was administered every 2 years.
Covariates included baseline TICS-M score, health, age, household income, marital status, and region of residence.Over half of the sample showed no changes in internet use from baseline during the study period, while one fifth did show changes in use. A U-shaped association was found between daily hours of online engagement, wherein the lowest risk was observed in those with 0.1 to 2 hours of usage . The risk increased in a"monotonic fashion" after 2 hours, with 6.1 to 8 hours of usage showing the highest risk.