Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37672847›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2023

Receptive and participatory arts engagement and subsequent healthy aging: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.

Melinda Rena, Daisy Fancourt, Feifei Bu, Elise Paul, Jill K Sonke, Jessica K Bone

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.8field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Longitudinal regimes of arts and cultural engagement and frailty among older adults in the United States: a g-formula approach.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Low Social Engagement and Risk of Death in Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Melinda RenaResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.
Daisy FancourtResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.
Feifei BuResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.
Elise PaulResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK.
Jill K SonkeCenter for Arts in Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Jessica K BoneResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK. Electronic address: jessica.bone@ucl.ac.uk.
University College London · GBHealth Data Research UK · GBUniversity of Florida · US

Funding

Wellcome Trust 205407/Z/16/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

rationaleArts engagement is associated with prolonged longevity, but it remains unclear whether it is also associated with increases in the portion of people's lives for which they remain healthy. We investigated whether receptive and participatory arts engagement were associated with healthy aging two and four years later.

methodWe included 1269 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal study of individuals aged 50 and above in the United States. Participants who completed the HRS 2014 Culture and the Arts Module and who were alive in 2016 and 2018 were eligible. We measured the number of participatory arts activities engaged in (e.g., crafts, dancing) and frequency of receptive arts engagement (e.g., going to a gallery or performance) in the past year. Healthy aging was a binary outcome, conceptualized as no major chronic diseases, no cognitive impairment, good physical functioning, and good mental health.

resultsIn logistic regression models, doing receptive arts once a month or more was associated with higher odds of healthy aging four years later compared to never engaging (odds ratio [OR] = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.10, 2.96). However, this evidence was attenuated after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic covariates (adjusted OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.84, 2.46). The number of participatory arts activities engaged in was not associated with healthy aging two or four years later. In sensitivity analyses, there was some evidence that receptive engagement was associated specifically with higher odds of good physical functioning four years later.

conclusionsThe lack of consistent associations between receptive and participatory arts engagement and healthy aging was unexpected given previous evidence for links between arts engagement and each of the four domains of healthy aging. Our findings highlight key methodological issues that should be explored in further research with larger nationally representative samples, longer follow-ups, and more detailed measures of arts engagement.

Indexed as

Cognitive DysfunctionHealthy AgingAgedHealth StatusHumansLongitudinal StudiesRetirementChronic diseaseCognitionCultural engagementMental healthPhysical functioning

Identifiers

PMID37672847
PMCPMC11157693
OpenAlexW4386274158

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.