Stéphanie Paillard-Borg has a BSc in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Mental Health and Counseling Services and a Ph.D. from Karolinska Institutet in Geriatric Epidemiology. She is a member of the medical group at the Aging Research Center (ARC).

Stéphanie’s doctoral thesis entitled “Leisure activities at old age and their influence on dementia development” focused on the pattern of participation in leisure activities and their influence on dementia development. Data were derived from a longitudinal population based study, the Kungsholmen Project, which included six- and nine-year follow-up data derived from an urban community cohort of 75+ year old people. The main findings can be summarized as follows:

• Older age, female gender, low education, poor or limited social network, mental disorders, and physical limitation were the factors correlated with a decreased engagement in ‘at least one leisure activity’. Demographic, contextual and health related factors were differentially associated with the specific activity types (mental, social, physical, productive or recreational).
  
  
• Engagement in leisure activities with higher scores in the mental, social or physical component was associated with a decreased dementia risk, and being involved in a broad spectrum of activities appeared to be the most beneficial.
  
  
• The same inverse association between an active life and risk for dementia was confirmed by using activity factors derived from principal component analysis. A higher level of mental, social or physical factor score was associated with a decreased risk of dementia, and a dose-response association was observed when the dementia risk was related to the combined effect of these three factors.
  
  
• When the mental, social and physical components were integrated into an index, it was found that the broader the spectrum of participation (higher levels in at least two of the components) the later the age of dementia onset.

In conclusion, the results show that even in advanced old age, elderly people are still active, being limited in their participation only by mental disorders or physical limitations. An active lifestyle, defined as a higher level of participation in leisure activities with a mental, social or physical component, may decrease the risk of dementia and postpone its onset.