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Cited by 125Art Therapy and Mental HealthArts, Culture, and Music StudiesMuseums and Cultural Heritage

The art of life and death: 14 year follow-up analyses of associations between arts engagement and mortality in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

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Fancourt, Daisy, Steptoe, Andrew·2019·BMJ
DOI 10.1136/bmj.l6377PMC PMC7190042
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Abstract

Objective: To explore associations between different frequencies of arts engagement and mortality over a 14 year follow-up period. Design: Prospective cohort study. Participants: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort of 6710 community dwelling adults aged 50 years and older (53.6% women, average age 65.9 years, standard deviation 9.4) who provided baseline data in 2004-05. Intervention: Self reported receptive arts engagement (going to museums, art galleries, exhibitions, the theatre, concerts, or the opera). Measurement: Mortality measured through data linkage to the National Health Service central register. Results: People who engaged with receptive arts activities on an infrequent basis (once or twice a year) had a 14% lower risk of dying at any point during the follow-up (809/3042 deaths, hazard ratio 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.77 to 0.96) compared with those who never engaged (837/1762 deaths). People who engaged with receptive arts activities on a frequent basis (every few months or more) had a 31% lower risk of dying (355/1906 deaths, 0.69, 0.59 to 0.80), independent of demographic, socioeconomic, health related, behavioural, and social factors. Results were robust to a range of sensitivity analyses with no evidence of moderation by sex, socioeconomic status, or social factors. This study was observational and so causality cannot be assumed. Conclusions: Receptive arts engagement could have a protective association with longevity in older adults. This association might be partly explained by differences in cognition, mental health, and physical activity among those who do and do not engage in the arts, but remains even when the model is adjusted for these factors.

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Authors
Fancourt, D., & Steptoe, A.
Affiliations
University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Fancourt, Daisy
ORCID
Venue
BMJ
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2019-12-18
Volume
367
Pages
l6377
ISSN
1756-1833 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1136/bmj.l6377
PMC
PMC7190042
OpenAlex
W2996697091
Cited by
125
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1
FWCI
101.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMJ (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust (205407/Z/16/Z)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S013830/1)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG017644)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Conservation › Art Therapy and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Arts, Culture, and Music Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Museology › Museums and Cultural Heritage
Keywords
arts participation, mortality, longevity, older adults, museum visits, theatre attendance, cultural participation, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
MeSH terms
Aged, Art, Cognition, Community Participation, England, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Longevity, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Mortality, Prospective Studies, State Medicine, Health Behavior, Exercise, Proportional Hazards Models

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