Table 5.

Results of studies analysing the impact of arts engagement on cognitive decline.

Author	Sample	Intervention sample	Comparator sample	Male/female ratio	Age	Endpoints	Outcome	Outcome measurement	Results
Cetinkaya et al. (2019)	30	15	15	21/11	74.5 ± 9	Before, after 8 weeks	Cognitive parameters and life satisfaction	Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)	MMSE: IG: 24.2 ± 3.6; CG: 21.4 ± 4.3 (p < 0.001)
Fancourt and Steptoe (2018)	3445	NA	NA	1543/1902	62.9 ± 7.5	At enrolment (2004/2005); After 10 years (2014/2015)	Cognitive decline	Test of semantic fluency (which is often regarded as a measure of executive function since it involves self-initiated activity, organisation and abstraction, response inhibition and set shifting and calls upon memory and language processes) and an immediate and delayed recall task as a measure of memory	Going to galleries and museums A smaller decline in cognitive function compared with non-participation. For memory: a dose–response relationship indicating that more frequent attendance had a greater effect on cognition. For semantic fluency, attending once a year or more appeared to be protective Going to the theatre, concert or opera. A smaller decline in cognitive function. In relation to both memory and semantic fluency, attending once a year or more appeared to be protective with evidence of a dose–response relationship in particular for semantic fluency indicating that more frequent attendance had a greater effect on cognition. Going to the cinema. Significantly associated with cognition when taking baseline cognitive function and demographic factors into account, results became inconsistent in the fully adjusted models. For memory, attending every few months appeared to be protective, but there was no evidence that attending either more or less frequently than this had any benefits. For semantic fluency, only attending on an infrequent basis appeared to have any protective effect and these results were attenuated when correcting for multiple comparisons.
Noice et al. (2004)	124	Theatre: 44; Visual: 36	31	27/97	73.7 ± 5.99	At baseline; after 4 weeks	Cognitive parameters and well-being	Word recall task, Listening span task, Problem solving, Self-esteem scale, Psychological Well-Being Scale	Word recall Theatre: 17.16 ± 3.91, Visual: 15.83 ± 4.07; Control: 13.10 ± 4.53, p = 0.02; Total memory span: Theatre: 24.39 ± 2.72, Visual: 22.89 ± 5.10, Control: 21.58 ± 4.92, p > 0.05; Problem solving: Theatre: 8.89 ± 3.75, Visual: 4.56 ± 2.16, Control: 6.13 ± 3.33, p < 0.001; Self-esteem: Theatre: 3.64 ± 0.37; Visual: 3.37 ± 0.40, Control: 3.49 ± 0.36, p > 0.05; Psychological Well-being Theatre: 5.50 ± 0.52; Visual: 4.90 ± 0.57; Control: 4.97 ± 0.59, p = 0.001
Noice and Noice (2008)	122	Theatre: 42; Voice: 40	40	Theatre: 8/34; Voice: 7/33; Control: 4/36	Theatre: 80.24 ± 6.47; Voice: 82.65 ± 4.67; Control: 81.60 ± 5.96	Baseline; after 4 weeks	Cognitive parameters	Word list recall, Delayed word list recall, East Boston Memory Test, Category Fluency, Digit Span, Story recall task, Problem Solving	Digit span forward Theatre: 7.76 ± 1.89, Voice: 7.25 ± 2.04, Control: 7.23 ± 1.94; Digit span backward Theatre: 5.62 ± 1.87, Voice: 5.43 ± 1.63, Control: 5.53 ± 1.83; EBM (immediate) Theatre: 9.71 ± 1.95, Voice: 9.05 ± 1.92, Control: 8.80 ± 2.17; EBM (delayed) Theatre: 9.86 ± 1.75, Voice: 9.05 ± 1.92, Control: 8.33 ± 2.35; Problem Solving Theatre: 9.98 ± 2.68, Voice: 7.45 ± 2.55, Control: 6.78 ± 2.65, p < 0.001; Verbal Fluency Theatre: 37.02 ± 9.20, Voice: 29.68 ± 7.08, Control: 30.25 ± 5.88, p < 0.001; Word recall (immediate) Theatre: 24.31 ± 3.95, Voice: 20.48 ± 4.41; Control: 19.63 ± 3.70, p = 0.001; Word recall (delayed) Theatre: 7.83 ± 2.19; Voice: 6.08 ± 2.73; Control: 6.13 ± 2.12, p < 0.05.