{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T08:26:54Z","timestamp":1771921614262,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":80,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771891200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Hum. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Loneliness has emerged as a robust risk factor for adverse cognitive outcomes, including accelerated cognitive decline and increased dementia risk. However, accumulating evidence suggests that the cognitive consequences of loneliness may be sex-specific, with women experiencing disproportionate exposure, vulnerability, and downstream effects across the life course. This mini-review synthesizes epidemiological, psychosocial, and neurobiological evidence linking loneliness to cognitive aging in women, highlighting sex differences in prevalence, social role exposures (e.g., caregiving, widowhood), stress responsivity, and neuroendocrine and inflammatory pathways. Findings from longitudinal cohort studies are reviewed, demonstrating stronger associations between loneliness and cognitive decline in women, alongside emerging mechanistic research implicating hypothalamic\u2013pituitary\u2013adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, immune activation, and hippocampal vulnerability. Critical gaps in aging neuroscience, including limited sex-disaggregated analyses and undermeasurement of relational and social variables, require urgent attention. A sex-sensitive framework for integrating loneliness into cognitive aging research and prevention strategies, emphasizing targeted assessment and intervention approaches that reflect women\u2019s lived social contexts, holds promise for advancing precision prevention in women\u2019s brain health. Framing loneliness as a modifiable, sex-specific risk factor offers a novel avenue for precision prevention in women\u2019s cognitive aging.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2026.1784613","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T06:47:38Z","timestamp":1771915658000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Loneliness as a sex-specific risk factor for cognitive aging"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Alison","family":"Warren","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences","place":["Washington, DC, United States"]},{"name":"Frame-Corr Laboratory, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences","place":["Washington, DC, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Continuing Education, Harvard University Extension School","place":["Cambridge, MA, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1619","DOI":"10.1002\/alz.12327","article-title":"Associations of loneliness with risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease dementia in the Framingham heart study","volume":"17","author":"Akhter-Khan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Alzheimers Dement."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0319311","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0319311","article-title":"The impact of loneliness on depression, mental health, and physical well-being","volume":"20","author":"Akinyemi","year":"2025","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7759\/cureus.43053","article-title":"The role of estrogen therapy as a protective factor for Alzheimer\u2019s disease and dementia in postmenopausal women: a comprehensive review of the literature","author":"Ali","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cureus"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e70235","DOI":"10.1002\/alz.70235","article-title":"Alzheimer\u2019s disease facts and figures","volume":"21","year":"2025","journal-title":"Alzheimers Dement."},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"134","DOI":"10.4103\/ijsp.ijsp_332_23","article-title":"Psychosocial determinants of depression in women: a narrative review","volume":"41","author":"Aneja","year":"2025","journal-title":"Indian J. 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