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Objectives The study investigated whether high mental demands at work, which have shown to promote a good cognitive functioning in old age, could offset the adverse association between social isolation and cognitive functioning. Methods Based on data from the population-based LIFE-Adult-Study, the association between cognitive functioning (Verbal Fluency Test, Trail Making Test B) and social isolation (Lubben Social Network Scale) as well as mental demands at work (O*NET database) was analyzed via linear regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, education, and sampling weights. Results Cognitive functioning was significantly lower in socially isolated individuals and in individuals working in low mental demands jobs—even in old age after retirement and even after taking into account the educational level. An interaction effect suggested stronger effects of mental demands at work in socially isolated than nonisolated individuals. Conclusions The findings suggest that working in high mental-demand jobs could offset the adverse association between social isolation and cognitive functioning. Further research should evaluate how interventions that target social isolation and enhance mentally demanding activities promote a good cognitive functioning in old age.

The 'Fragebogen zum Essverhalten' (FEV) is the German version of the Three-factor-Eating-Questionnaire (TFEQ). This questionnaire covers three domains of eating behaviour ('cognitive restraint', 'disinhibition' and 'hunger') as well as common problems (e.g. craving for sweets). So far, there is a lack of normative data of the FEV especially for the middle-aged and older population. Aim of this study therefore was to provide age- and gender-specific norms of the FEV for the general population aged 40-79 years. We studied 3144 participants of the ongoing large community-based Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases (LIFE) Health Care Study. We provided age- (four age groups: 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-79 years) and gender-specific percentile ranks and T-scores for the three domains of the FEV as well as age- and gender-specific frequencies of the common problems in eating behaviour. Females scored significantly higher than males in all three domains of the FEV (p 0.001). Older individuals showed significantly higher mean scores than the younger ones in the domain of cognitive restraint, but lower mean scores in disinhibition and hunger (p 0.001). 45.1% of the males and 69.9% of the females reported specific problems in eating. The main problem in both genders was craving for sweets (38.6%). Eating in response to stress was mostly reported in younger individuals. The present study offers current normative data for the FEV in the middle-aged and older general population that can be applied in clinical and non-clinical settings. Information on eating behaviour can be helpful in understanding body weight modulation, and thus, may help to improve interventive and preventive programmes for overweight, obesity, and eating disorders.

Objectives There is an increasing call for a stronger consideration of impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in the diagnostic criteria of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to improve the prediction of dementia. Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the predictive capability of MCI and IADL impairment for incident dementia. Design Longitudinal cohort study with four assessments at 1.5-year intervals over a period of 4.5 years. Setting Primary care medical record registry sample. Participants As part of the German Study on Ageing, Cognition, and Dementia in Primary Care Patients, a sample of 3,327 patients from general practitioners, aged 75 years and older, was assessed. Measurements The predictive capability of MCI and IADL impairment for incident dementia was analysed using receiver operating characteristics, Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, and Cox proportional hazards models. Results MCI and IADL impairment were found to be significantly associated with higher conversion to, shorter time to, and better predictive power for future dementia. Regarding IADL, a significant impact was particularly found for impairment in responsibility for one's own medication, shopping, and housekeeping, and in the ability to use public transport. Conclusions Combining MCI with IADL impairment significantly improves the prediction of future dementia. Even though information on a set of risk factors is required to achieve a predictive accuracy for dementia in subjects with MCI being clinically useful, IADL impairment should be a very important element of such a risk factor set.

Background Theory of Mind (ToM) is essential for successful social interactions, as it enables the understanding of another person’s mental state and the prediction of future behavior. As affective information is conveyed through gaze, the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test (RMET) is a frequently used tool for the assessment of ToM. This is the first study to investigate the effects of sex on a wide age range (19–79 years) in a large, population-based German sample. As RMET scores have been shown to be sensitive to hormonal changes, the sex effect before and after menopause (cut-off age: 45) was of particular interest. Methods The sample comprised 1603 participants of the LIFE study. We investigated the effects of age and sex on RMET performance by applying linear regression, correcting for verbal ability. The size of the effects of sex and age were estimated using Hedges g. Effect sizes for the age groups below and above 45 years were analyzed with respect to male-female differences. Results We found significant effects of sex and age on RMET performance. Older adults presented lower accuracy rates compared to younger adults. Effects remained stable when considering other cognitive abilities. Women outperformed men before the age of 45, while the male-female performance difference was reduced in individuals above 45 years of age. Discussion Both men and women show a decline in affective ToM with increasing age in this comprehensive community-dwelling study. Thus, older adults may have particular problems inferring complex emotional content from gaze. Data suggest that female superiority in mindreading abilities is diminished after menopause, presumably due to changes in the concentration of circulating hormones.

Background Minor depression is as ubthreshold depressive disorder. It is diagnosed when a patient suffers from 2 to 4 depressive symptoms for at least 2 weeks. Though minor depression affects nearly ten percent of the elderly population, its pathophysiology has hardly been investigated. In our study we assessed serum levels of biomarkers for plasticity, glial and neuronal function: brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), S100B and neuron specific enolase (NSE). Methods 27 subjects with minor depressive episode and 82 healthy subjects, 60–79 years old, were selected from the database of the Leipzig population-based study of adults (LIFE-adult). Serum levels of BDNF, S100B and NSE were compared between groups, and correlated with age, body-mass index (BMI), and degree of white matter hyperintensities (calculated as a score on Fazekas scale). Results S100B was significantly increased in males with minor depression in comparison to healthy males, whereas other biomarkers did not differ between groups (p = 0.10–0.66). S100B correlated with BMI (rs = 0.246, p = 0.031) and with age in healthy subjects (rs = 0.345, p = 0.002). NSE correlated with Fazekas score in patients with minor depression (rs = 0.436, p = 0.048) and in the whole sample (rs = 0.252, p = 0.019). Discussion For the first time we assessed serum levels of BDNF, S100B and NSE in late life minor depression. We found evidence for increased biomarker for glial activation S100B. Increased S100B in males with minor depression, without alterations in BDNF and NSE, support the glial hypothesis of depression. According to this hypothesis glial alterations precede neuronal changes in depression. Correlation between white matter hyperintensities and NSE underscores the vascular hypothesis of late life depression.