Cultural engagement and cognitive reserve: museum attendance and dementia incidence over a 10-year period
Open accessAbstract
Summary: Theories of cognitive reserve, disuse syndrome and stress have suggested that activities that are mentally engaging, enjoyable and socially interactive could be protective against the development of dementia. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this study shows that for adults aged 50 and older visiting museums every few months or more was associated with a lower incidence rate of dementia over a 10-year follow-up period compared with less-frequent visiting. This association was independent of demographics, socioeconomic status, health-related variables including sensory impairment, depression, vascular conditions and other forms of community engagement. Visiting museums may be a promising psychosocial activity to support the prevention of dementia. Declaration of interest: None.
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Many demographic and health predictors of age-related arts participation, such as gender and difficulty with iADL in older ages, have previously been associated with reduced likelihood of engagement.
“many of which such as gender and difficulty with iADL in older ages have previously been associated with reduced likelihood of engagement [7, 13, 14].”
From Difference in predictors and barriers to arts and cultural engagement with age in the United States: A cross-sectional analysis using the Health and Retirement Study (2021) · cites this paper as [7]
The Method (Measures; page unavailable) says age, education and wealth were used to predict cultural engagement, and lists gender as a demographic covariate. It does not report that gender or difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living (iADL) was associated with a reduced likelihood of engagement. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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Cites
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Modifiable lifestyle factors and cognitive reserve: a systematic review of current evidence
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Fancourt, D., Steptoe, A., & Cadar, D.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Fancourt, Daisy
- Venue
- The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2018-07-20
- Volume
- 213
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 661-663
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- PMC
- PMC6429239
- OpenAlex
- W2884008279
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 6.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (205407/Z/16/Z, 205407)
- Government of the United Kingdom
- Economic and Social Research Council (RO1AG7644)
- National Institute on Aging (RO1AG7644, Grant RO1AG7644)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Museology › Museums and Cultural Heritage
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Conservation › Art Therapy and Mental Health
- Keywords
- cognitive reserve, dementia incidence, museum visits, cultural participation, disuse syndrome, dementia prevention, older adults, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
- MeSH terms
- Cognitive Aging, Aged, Dementia, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Museums, Regression Analysis, Social Behavior, Social Class, Incidence, Cognitive Reserve
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