Table 3.
Prospective associations between reading books, magazines, or newspapers, doing word and number games and playing cards or games, and wellbeing, physical health, daily life functioning, cognitive impairment, and all-cause mortalitya.
| Reading books, magazines, and newspapers (ref. = never) | Doing word or number games (ref. = never) | Playing cards or games (ref. = never) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome | Statisticsb, c | Sometimes d | Almost every day | Sometimes d | Almost every day | Sometimes d | Almost every day |
| Emotional wellbeing | |||||||
| Loneliness (3-item loneliness scale) | βb (95% CI) p-value | −0.035 (−0.094, 0.024) 0.215 | −0.056† (−0.111, −0.001) 0.045 | −0.025 (−0.068, 0.018) 0.228 | −0.029 (−0.085, 0.026) 0.265 | −0.060 (−0.090, −0.031) 0.002 | −0.097 (−0.142, −0.051) 0.001 |
| Alzheimer's disease | OR (95% CI) p-value | 0.880 (0.611, 1.269) 0.492 | 0.696 (0.461, 1.051) 0.085 | 0.822 (0.609, 1.109) 0.199 | 0.834 (0.629, 1.106) 0.206 | 0.829 (0.628, 1.094) 0.182 | 0.606† (0.415, 0.884) 0.009 |
| Depression (EURO-D≥4) | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.969 (0.909, 1.032) 0.313 | 0.925† (0.861, 0.994) 0.035 | 0.921† (0.863, 0.983) 0.013 | 0.927† (0.864, 0.994) 0.034 | 0.904† (0.844, 0.969) 0.005 | 0.936 (0.844, 1.039) 0.216 |
| Future looks good | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.067† (0.023, 0.111) 0.008 | 0.097† (0.047, 0.147) 0.003 | 0.048† (0.002, 0.095) 0.041 | 0.056 (−0.002, 0.114) 0.055 | 0.046† (0.008, 0.083) 0.022 | 0.024 (−0.034, 0.082) 0.384 |
| I feel full of energy these days | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.038 (−0.011, 0.087) 0.114 | 0.085† (0.027, 0.144) 0.010 | 0.041† (0.008, 0.073) 0.020 | 0.054† (0.012, 0.095) 0.018 | 0.022 (−0.014, 0.058) 0.204 | −0.014 (−0.080, 0.052) 0.641 |
| On balance, I look back on my life with a sense of happiness | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.069 (−0.001, 0.140) 0.053 | 0.135 (0.084, 0.186) < 0.001 | 0.019 (−0.014, 0.052) 0.226 | 0.026 (−0.034, 0.085) 0.361 | 0.047 (−0.006, 0.100) 0.074 | 0.082† (0.023, 0.141) 0.010 |
| I look forward to each day | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.076† (0.007, 0.144) 0.033 | 0.097† (0.041, 0.153) 0.003 | 0.066 (0.034, 0.098) 0.001 | 0.049 (−0.001, 0.099) 0.053 | 0.070† (0.031, 0.110) 0.003 | 0.019 (−0.053, 0.091) 0.570 |
| I feel that my life has meaning | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.045 (−0.021, 0.110) 0.153 | 0.107 (0.056, 0.159) 0.001 | 0.026 (−0.002, 0.055) 0.068 | 0.016 (−0.023, 0.055) 0.388 | 0.037 (−0.012, 0.086) 0.125 | −0.015 (−0.105, 0.075) 0.718 |
| Daily life functioning | |||||||
| ADL (at least 1 limitation) | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.926 (0.844, 1.017) 0.107 | 0.880† (0.797, 0.973) 0.012 | 0.948 (0.854, 1.052) 0.317 | 0.940 (0.837, 1.055) 0.291 | 0.965 (0.878, 1.059) 0.449 | 1.043 (0.911, 1.193) 0.542 |
| IADL (at least 1 limitation) | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.909† (0.836, 0.989) 0.026 | 0.913 (0.863, 0.966) 0.002 | 0.940 (0.866, 1.019) 0.134 | 0.924 (0.827, 1.032) 0.163 | 0.960 (0.880, 1.046) 0.351 | 1.012 (0.887, 1.156) 0.857 |
| Physical health | |||||||
| Heart attack | OR (95% CI) p-value | 0.823 (0.645, 1.050) 0.114 | 1.069 (0.892, 1.282) 0.468 | 0.944 (0.859, 1.037) 0.228 | 1.009 (0.916, 1.111) 0.857 | 0.999 (0.913, 1.093) 0.987 | 0.945 (0.749, 1.197) 0.647 |
| Hypertension | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.976 (0.913, 1.043) 0.471 | 0.973 (0.918, 1.032) 0.356 | 1.005 (0.963, 1.050) 0.807 | 0.980 (0.944, 1.017) 0.288 | 1.007 (0.963, 1.054) 0.746 | 1.006 (0.902, 1.129) 0.920 |
| High blood cholesterol | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.994 (0.912, 1.084) 0.894 | 0.957 (0.874, 1.048) 0.339 | 1.001 (0.939, 1.066) 0.984 | 1.021 (0.949, 1.098) 0.582 | 1.036 (0.980, 1.095) 0.210 | 1.025 (0.925, 1.135) 0.638 |
| Stroke | OR (95% CI) p-value | 0.849 (0.628, 1.147) 0.286 | 0.810 (0.627, 1.046) 0.106 | 0.910 (0.725, 1.134) 0.388 | 0.881 (0.667, 1.163) 0.370 | 1.196 (0.965, 1.481) 0.101 | 1.192 (0.821, 1.731) 0.356 |
| Diabetes | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.968 (0.867, 1.081) 0.561 | 1.070 (0.982, 1.166) 0.123 | 0.978 (0.917, 1.044) 0.510 | 1.002 (0.926, 1.083) 0.966 | 0.970 (0.893, 1.053) 0.464 | 0.970 (0.880, 1.070) 0.548 |
| Cancer | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.950 (0.840, 1.075) 0.417 | 1.006 (0.900, 1.125) 0.914 | 0.932 (0.754, 1.152) 0.514 | 0.955 (0.790, 1.153) 0.629 | 1.212† (1.014, 1.447) 0.034 | 1.456† (1.074, 1.973) 0.016 |
| Outcome | Statisticsb, c | Sometimes d | Almost every day | Sometimes d | Almost every day | Sometimes d | Almost every day |
| Pain | RR (95% CI) p-value | 0.990 (0.941, 1.041) 0.688 | 0.948† (0.903, 0.996) 0.033 | 0.979 (0.940, 1.019) 0.292 | 0.968 (0.910, 1.029) 0.296 | 0.947† (0.912, 0.983) 0.004 | 0.994 (0.921, 1.072) 0.871 |
| Mobility | RR (95% CI) p-value | 1.011 (0.982, 1.041) 0.456 | 0.982 (0.951, 1.013) 0.250 | 1.004 (0.961, 1.048) 0.872 | 0.970 (0.937, 1.003) 0.075 | 0.960† (0.933, 0.988) 0.005 | 1.011 (0.965, 1.060) 0.642 |
| Cognitive impairment | |||||||
| Date orientation | βb (95% CI) p-value | 0.075† (0.003, 0.147) 0.043 | 0.077† (0.014, 0.139) 0.021 | 0.052† (0.008, 0.095) 0.024 | 0.026 (−0.018, 0.070) 0.224 | 0.034 (−0.007, 0.075) 0.095 | 0.049 (−0.014, 0.112) 0.111 |
| All-cause mortality | OR (95% CI) p-value | 0.903 (0.792, 1.031) 0.132 | 0.910 (0.822, 1.007) 0.068 | 0.865† (0.748, 0.999) 0.049 | 0.867† (0.785, 0.956) 0.004 | 0.938 (0.813, 1.082) 0.378 | 0.896 (0.727, 1.104) 0.301 |
CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; RR, risk ratio; ADL, activities of daily living; IADL, instrumental activities of daily living.
Missing covariate variables were imputed using chained equations (ten sets of imputed data were generated). All models were controlled for participant demographics: age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, and country; socioeconomic factors: annual personal income, household net financial assets, health behaviors such as BMI, alcohol consumption, and sports activity; lifestyle factors demonstrated in volunteer activities; and personality traits such as agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion. Each model was also adjusted for prior values of the 21 outcome variables and of the exposure variable, as well as previous self-reported presence/absence of diagnosis for heart attack, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, stroke, diabetes, and cancer simultaneously in each regression model.
All continuous outcomes were standardized (mean = 0, standard deviation = 1), and β was the standardized effect size.
p < 0.05 after Bonferroni correction (p-value cut-off for Bonferroni correction = 0.05/21 outcomes = 0.0024).
Sometimes comprises almost every week, almost every month, less often.
Not significant after Bonferroni.
Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), adults 50 years and older (N = 19,821).