Johns Hopkins geriatrician Thomas Cudjoe remembers his disbelief when he discovered that many of the older East Baltimore adults participating in his “Ask the Doctor” talk had never met some of their next-door neighbors.
“They shared that they didn’t really feel connected to one another or the community. They didn’t really engage with people outside of their building. It puzzled me that these people lived so close to one another but, for whatever reason, didn’t feel connected,” says Cudjoe, who is the Caryl & George Bernstein CIM/HAP Scholar.
So Cudjoe set out to explore the health risks of social isolation, especially for those who are aging. Although many scholars have discussed the effects of individual loneliness, he says, few examined how the phenomenon of social isolation might contribute to higher levels of illness and even death.
It’s a critical question given that one in four Americans aged 65 or older who are living in a community experiences social isolation, according to his research.
Among his various studies, Cudjoe has investigated how social isolation may lead to elevated inflammatory biomarkers in older adults as well as how isolation can increase one’s risk for functional decline. And last year, he published a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggesting that social isolation may influence whether older people develop dementia. In a nine-year study of 5,022 Medicare beneficiaries who were community dwelling, Cudjoe and colleagues found the risk of developing dementia was 27% higher in those people who were socially isolated.
Cudjoe believes that clinical screening to identify social isolation may help older adults take steps to become more socially connected in order to maintain their physical and mental health. Since COVID-19 brought national awareness to the dangers of social isolation, he says, more researchers are developing novel programs and interventions to help to decrease it.
“The CIM has been a great incubator of my ideas. It also continues to be a source of innovation and inspiration.” Thomas Cudjoe
Cudjoe is also pushing to develop home-based solutions for his patients by working with School of Nursing researchers who use the Community Aging in Place — Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) program. The brainchild of School of Nursing Dean Sarah Szanton, CAPABLE earned a prestigious Heinz Award in 2019.
Cudjoe is grateful to CIM and the Human Aging Project for encouraging such cross-disciplinary collaborations. “The CIM has been a great incubator of my ideas,” Cudjoe says. “It also continues to be a source of innovation and inspiration.”
