CONCEPTUAL ADVANCEMENT: SOCIAL HEALTH AS A FACILITATOR IN THE USE OF COGNITIVE RESERVE

ABSTRACT Dementia is a syndrome where the origins are not fully understood, and we have no cure. New thinking through exploration of paradigms beyond biological approaches has scope to improve knowledge about this complex condition. We aim to explore the role of social health in cognitive decline and the onset of dementia. We performed a scoping and a systematic review of the literature, hypothesizing that social health acts as a driver for stimulating the use of cognitive reserve. The review yielded theoretical pathways and evidence for the association between neurobiological and social health markers. However, lack of conceptual clarity on social health hinders its articulation and associated inclusion of social health markers in epidemiological studies. We therefore apply concept advancement of social health. We developed a conceptual framework, and we present a first testing of our overarching hypothesis. This framework proved to effectively guide the identification of social health markers in our epidemiological data bases. This promotes the identification of modifiable risk factors, which may in turn shape new avenues for preventive interventions.