Progression of socio-cognitive impairment from healthy aging to Alzheimer’s dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Trajectories of decline across different socio-cognitive domains in healthy older adults and in pathological aging conditions have not been investigated. This was addressed in the present systematic review and meta-analysis. MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, CENTRAL, and PsycInfo were searched for studies investigating social cognition across four domains (Theory of Mind, ToM; emotion recognition, ER; Social-decision making, SD; visual perspective taking, VPT) in healthy older individuals, individuals with subjective and mild cognitive impairment (SCD, MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. Of 8,137 screened studies, 132 studies were included in the review. ToM and ER showed a clear progression of impairment from normal aging to AD. Differential patterns of decline were identified for different types of ToM and ER. This systematic review identified progression of impairment of specific socio-cognitive abilities, which is the necessary pre-requisite for developing targeted interventions. We identified a lack of research on socio-cognitive decline in different populations (e.g., middle age, SCD and MCI-subtypes) and domains (SDM, VPT). CRD42020191607, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ • First systematic review on the progression of socio-cognitive impairment in healthy aging, SCD, MCI and AD across functional domains. • ToM and emotion recognition showed a clear progression of impairment across the healthy lifespan and from normal aging to AD. • There is a current lack of research on socio-cognitive decline in a number of different population (e.g., middle age, SCD and MCI-subtypes) and domains (SDM, VPT).