Association between attending cultural events and all-cause mortality: a longitudinal study with three measurements (1982–2017)

Abstract

Objectives To examine the association between cultural attendance and all-cause mortality. Design A longitudinal cohort study over 36 years (1982-2017) with three 8-year interval measurements of exposure (1982/1983, 1990/1991 and 1998/1999) to cultural attendance and a follow-up period to 31 December 2017. Setting Sweden. Participants The study included 3311 randomly selected individuals from the Swedish population with complete data for all three measurements. Primary outcome measurements All-cause mortality during the study period in relation to level of cultural attendance. Cox regression models with time-varying covariates were used to estimate HRs adjusted for potential confounders. Results The HRs of cultural attendance in the lowest and middle levels compared with the highest level (reference; HR=1) were 1.63 (95% CI 1.34 to 2.00) and 1.25 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.51), respectively. Conclusion Attending cultural events has a suggested gradient, the lesser cultural exposure the higher all-cause mortality during the follow-up.