Visiting the cinema, concerts, museums or art exhibitions as determinant of survival: a Swedish fourteen-year cohort follow-up

The aim of this study was to ascertain the possible influence of attending various kinds of cultural events or visiting cultural institutions as a det erminant of survival. A cohort of individuals aged 25-74 years from a rando m sample were interviewed by trained non-medical interviewers in 1982 and 1 983. The interviews covered standard-of-living variables. Our independent v ariables covered visiting cultural institutions and attendance at cultural events, reading books or periodicals, and music making. The non-response ra te was about 25%. The cohort was followed with respect to survival for 14 y ears up to 31st December 1996. The background covariates that were used for control purposes were age, sex, cash buffer, educational standard. long-te rm disease, smoking, and physical exercise. Our setting was the Swedish sur vey of living conditions among the adult Swedish population aged 25-74 year s. About 10,609 individuals were interviewed in 1982 and 1983. The outcome measure was survival until 31st December 1996. In all, 916 men and 600 wome n died during this period. We found a higher mortality risk for those peopl e who rarely visited the cinema, concerts, museums, or art exhibitions comp ared with those visiting them most often. The significant relative risks ra nging between RR 1.14 (95% CI. 1.01-1.31) of attending art exhibitions, and RR 1.42 (CI. 1.25-1.60) of attending museums, when adjusting for the nine other variables. Visits to the cinema and concerts gave significant RR in b etween. We could not discern any beneficial effect of attending the theatre , church service or sports event as a spectator or any effect of reading or music making. Our conclusion is that attendance at certain kinds of cultur al events may have a beneficial effect on longevity.