Social and Leisure Activities and Risk of Dementia: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

TLDR

To investigate whether social and leisure activities reduce the risk of later dementia in older adults. A prospective cohort of 2,040 French community‑dwelling residents aged 65+ was followed for at least three years, with baseline interviews on social and leisure activities and annual DSM‑III‑R dementia assessments. All but one activity lowered dementia risk; after adjusting for age and cognition, traveling (RR 0.48), odd jobs/knitting (RR 0.46), and gardening (RR 0.53) remained significantly protective.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between social and leisure activities and risk of subsequent dementia in older community residents. SETTING: A cohort study of people aged 65 and older were followed‐up 1 and 3 years after a baseline screening (the Paquid study). PARTICIPANTS: 2040 older subjects living at home in Gironde (France) were randomly selected and followed for at least 3 years. DATA COLLECTION: Information about social and leisure activities was collected during the baseline screening with an interview by a psychologist. Incident cases of dementia were detected during the first and third year follow‐up screenings according to the DSM‐III‐R criteria. MAIN RESULTS: All but one of the social and leisure activities noted were significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia. Only golden club participation was not significantly associated with this risk. After adjustment for age and cognitive performance measured by the Mini‐Mental State Exam, visual memory test, and verbal fluency test, only traveling (Relative risk (RR) = .48, 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) = .24‐.94), odd jobs or knitting (RR = .46, 95%CI = .26‐.85), and gardening (RR = .53, 95%CI = .28‐.99) remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Regular participation in social or leisure activities such as traveling, odds jobs, knitting, or gardening were associated with a lower risk of subsequent dementia.