Topical Review of Hobbies and Cognitive Health

Abstract

Background: Establishing preventive measures to improve cognitive health of the growing older adult population is a public health priority. Though, the links between low-cost non-pharmacologist interventions that target activities like hobbies and cognitive health remain unclear. Objective: We conducted a topical review of extant literature to characterize prior findings in context and identify potential research opportunities. Methods: Search criteria was conducted with search terms “Hobbies and Dementia”, “Hobbies and Cognitive Health,” “Leisure Activities and Dementia,” and “Leisure Activities and Cognitive Health”. From the initial 383 articles, 25 articles were selected for review by using broad inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Of the 25 articles included in this review, 19 were longitudinal cohort, 1 was a retrospective cohort, 2 were case–control, and 3 were cross-sectional. These studies classified hobbies as leisure activities that were cognitive/intellectual, cultural, religious, social, gardening, traveling, or physical. These studies were conducted in the United States (9), United Kingdom (3), Sweden (3), France (5), Finland (1), Korea (1), Japan (2), and China (1). The associations of different types of hobbies with dementia from these studies were not consistent. Inconsistencies could be due to limitations of study design, lack of standardized methods, sample diversity, and differences in factors like social/cultural environment across the study populations. Conclusion: This review examined existing evidence for the association between engagement in different types of hobbies and dementia and identified key knowledge gaps and promising approaches for future research.