Pre diction of Age-Related Cognitive Decline and Executive Functions based on Social Isolation, Physical Activity and Nutritional Habits in The Elderly

Social factors and health-related behaviors, including physical activities and nutrition, play an important role in status of cognitive abilities in the elderly. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of social isolation, physical activity and nutritional habits in predicting age-related cognitive decline and executive function failure in the elderly. The research design was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population in this research included all elderly men and women in nursing homes in Tehran in 1401, from which 258 participants were selected based on Tabachnick and Fidell's formula by convenience sampling, and they were asked to the Folstein et al’s Mini Mental State Exam, Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale, Lubben Social Network Scale, Washburn et al.'s Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly, and Guigoz et al.'s Mini Nutritional Assessment. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis with SPSS-26 software. The results showed that physical activity and nutritional habits have a negative and significant relationship with cognitive decline and executive function deficiency (p<0.001). Social isolation did not have a significant relationship with cognitive decline and failure of executive functions (p>0.05). In addition, the physical activity predicted the cognitive decline of the elderly by 20% and the nutritional habits by the amount of 14% predicted the failure of the executive functions of the elderly (p<0.001). It is concluded that proper physical activity and having a good nutrition pattern can be associated with the reduction of cognitive deficits in the elderly. This result contains implications in developing preventive and intervention programs to improve the cognitive ability of the elderly.