India, April 4 -- A new long-term study found that older adults who are single may actually have a lower risk of developing dementia than those who are married.
The study followed over 24,000 people for 18 years with the average starting age at 71. Notably, some participants already had mild memory problems at the beginning.
The study, led by Selin Karakose at Florida State University, found that being unmarried (whether widowed, divorced, or never married) was linked to about a 50 percent lower risk of dementia.
The researchers looked at many factors such as age, gender, education, smoking habits, and mental and physical health, and still found that unmarried people were less likely to develop dementia. The effect was especially noticea...