Almeida-Meza, P;
Steptoe, A;
Cadar, D;
(2021)
Is Engagement in Intellectual and Social Leisure Activities Protective Against Dementia Risk? Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
10.3233/JAD-200952.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies have suggested that mentally stimulating activities and socially engaged lifestyles may reduce dementia risk; however, it is unclear which activities are more beneficial. OBJECTIVE: We investigated intellectual and social leisure activities in relation to dementia incidence and explored the modifying role of sex and marital status in these associations. METHODS: The sample was comprised of 8,030 participants aged 50+ from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, who joined at wave 1 (2002-2003), or waves 3 (2006-2007), or 4 (2008-2009). The end of the study period was wave 8 (2016-2017). Subdistribution hazard models investigated the role of leisure activities grouped into intellectual and social domains in relation to dementia while accounting for the risk of death. Subsequent analyses were conducted with individual leisure activities. RESULTS: During the study period of up to 15 years, 412 participants developed dementia, and 2,192 died. We found that increased engagement in the intellectual activities' domain was associated with a decreased dementia incidence (SHR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76-0.96, p = 0.007), independent of the risk of death in married individuals, but not in those who were single, divorced, or widowed. Individual analyses for each leisure activity showed independent associations for reading newspapers in females (SHR 0.65, 95% CI 0.49-0.84, p = 0.001), mobile phone usage in males (SHR 0.61, 95% CI 0.45-0.84, p = 0.002), and having hobbies for married individuals (SHR 0.70, 95% CI 0.51-0.95, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: We found that intellectual leisure activities contribute to lower dementia risk in a representative population of English adults, suggesting intervention opportunities.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Is Engagement in Intellectual and Social Leisure Activities Protective Against Dementia Risk? Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3233/JAD-200952 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-200952 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2021 – The authors. Published by IOS Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0). |
| Keywords: | Cognitive reserve, dementia, intellectual, leisure activities, longitudinal study, social, subdistribution hazard model |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10122074 |
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