Association of solidarity between adult children and older parents with cognitive decline

AIM: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between older adults' contact with their adult children and their cognitive decline. Furthermore, contact with children was considered in terms of visual contact and non-visual contact. RESULTS: Non-visual contact with the first-born child was significantly associated with cognitive decline. With daily contact as the reference: for two to three times weekly, the OR was 1.224 (P = 0.033); for two to three times monthly, the OR was 1.357 (P = 0.003); for five to six times yearly, the OR was 1.3816 (P = 0.008); and for very rarely, the OR was 1.786 (P < 0.0002), showing a significant effect for all groups. In the final sex-, age- and marriage status-specific analysis, non-visual contact with the first-born child was significantly associated with cognitive decline for women, people aged ≤64 years and people who were married. CONCLUSIONS: The present study validated previous research on the importance of social contact, and further assessed different modes of contact to show that non-visual contact is more beneficial than visual contact in terms of cognitive decline. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 1501-1506.