SOCIAL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES AND RISK OF DEMENTIA - A PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between social and leisure activi ties and risk of subsequent dementia in older community residents. SET TING: A cohort study of people aged 65 and older were followed-up 1 an d 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: Informati on about social and leisure activities was collected during the baseli ne screening with an interview by a psychologist. Incident cases of de mentia were detected during the first and third year follow-up screeni ngs 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 m emory test, and verbal fluency test, only traveling (Relative risk (RR ) = .48, 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) = .24-.94), odd jobs or knit ting (RR = .46, 95% CI = .26-.85), and gardening (RR = .53, 95% CI = . 28-.99) remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: Regular participation in so cial or leisure activities such as traveling, odds jobs, knitting, or gardening were associated with a lower risk of subsequent dementia.