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American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias logoLink to American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
. 2010 Aug;25(5):432–438. doi: 10.1177/1533317510368399

Engagement in Reading and Hobbies and Risk of Incident Dementia: The MoVIES Project

Tiffany F Hughes 1, Chung-Chou H Chang 2, Joni Vander Bilt 3, Mary Ganguli 4
PMCID: PMC2911991  NIHMSID: NIHMS188337  PMID: 20660517

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether there is an association between engagement in reading and hobbies and dementia risk in late life. Methods: A total of 942 members of a population-based, prospective cohort study were followed biennially to identify incident dementia cases. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk of dementia in relation to baseline total number of activities and time commitment to reading and hobbies. Results: A lower risk for dementia was found for a greater number of activities and for a high (about 1 hour each day) compared with low (less than 30 minutes each day) weekly time commitment to hobbies, independent of covariates. Only the protective effect of hobbies remained after methods were used to minimize bias due to potential preclinical dementia. Conclusion: Engaging in hobbies for 1 or more hours every day might be protective against dementia in late life.

Keywords: dementia, cognitive activity, leisure activity, hobbies

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Contributor Information

Tiffany F. Hughes, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, hughest2@upmc.edu .

Chung-Chou H. Chang, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Joni Vander Bilt, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Mary Ganguli, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

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