Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Examine relationships between arts participation in high school and later life, cognition, and cognitive change among older adults in the United States. DESIGN: Longitudinal retrospective SETTING: Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) including the Life History Mail Surveys (LHMS) and Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS). PARTICIPANTS: A sample of HRS respondents with cognition data from Wave 3 (1996) through Wave 14 (2018). We merged LHMS and CAMS responses (2017 and 2019) about high school arts participation, eliminating respondents < 50 years of age, without cognitive data in the last three waves, or with normal cognition following previously reported dementia. MEASUREMENTS: Respondents were categorized into 4 groups for musical and for visual arts): (1) lifelong learners; (2) high school learners; (3) current learners; and (4) no interest. Cognitive function was measured as a continuous summary score on a 27-point cognitive battery of items in the Langa-Weir Classification total Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status, TICS. RESULTS: Musical arts participation at time of the survey was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline in the entire sample (3505 participants in musical and 3507 in visual arts) and the War Babies cohort. Those who participated in musical arts at the time of the survey and while in high school experienced a slower rate of cognitive decline in the AHEAD-CODA cohort only. No relationships were found between cognition and times of visual arts participation. CONCLUSIONS: Some types of arts participation at different periods of life may benefit cognition later in life.