Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 164, September 2016, Pages 44-48
Social Science & Medicine

Short communication
A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Book reading provides a survival advantage among the elderly (HR = 0.80, p < 0.0001).

  • Books are more advantageous for survival than newspapers/magazines.

  • The survival advantage of reading books works through a cognitive mediator.

  • Books are protective regardless of gender, wealth, education, or health.

Abstract

Although books can expose people to new people and places, whether books also have health benefits beyond other types of reading materials is not known. This study examined whether those who read books have a survival advantage over those who do not read books and over those who read other types of materials, and if so, whether cognition mediates this book reading effect. The cohort consisted of 3635 participants in the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study who provided information about their reading patterns at baseline. Cox proportional hazards models were based on survival information up to 12 years after baseline. A dose-response survival advantage was found for book reading by tertile (HRT2 = 0.83, p < 0.001, HRT3 = 0.77, p < 0.001), after adjusting for relevant covariates including age, sex, race, education, comorbidities, self-rated health, wealth, marital status, and depression. Book reading contributed to a survival advantage that was significantly greater than that observed for reading newspapers or magazines (tT2 = 90.6, p < 0.001; tT3 = 67.9, p < 0.001). Compared to non-book readers, book readers had a 23-month survival advantage at the point of 80% survival in the unadjusted model. A survival advantage persisted after adjustment for all covariates (HR = .80, p < .01), indicating book readers experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow up compared to non-book readers. Cognition mediated the book reading-survival advantage (p = 0.04). These findings suggest that the benefits of reading books include a longer life in which to read them.

Section snippets

Participants

The study cohort was drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), collected by the University of Michigan's Institute of Social Research and supported by the National Institute on Aging. The HRS has conducted national telephone surveys biennially since 1992 among adults over age 50. In 2001, the off-year Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) was added, which contained questions about reading habits. All individuals completed identical telephone questionnaires and had identical

Results

In support of the prediction, book reading was associated with significantly greater survival for both the second and third tertiles, with adjustment for all covariates (HRT2 = 0.83, p < 0.001; HRT3 = 0.77, p < 0.001). During follow-up 33% of non-book readers, died, compared to 27% of book readers. Hazard ratios for reading periodicals were also obtained (HRT2 = 1.01, p < 0.001; HRT3 = 0.89, p < 0.001), with a protective effect seen only for the third tertile. The HRs for reading books were

Discussion

A 20% reduction in mortality was observed for those who read books, compared to those who did not read books. Further, our analyses demonstrated that any level of book reading gave a significantly stronger survival advantage than reading periodicals. This is a novel finding (in both senses of the word), as previous studies did not compare types of reading material; it indicates that book reading rather than reading in general is driving a survival advantage.

The mediation analyses showed for the

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01AG032284). The Health and Retirement Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and is conducted by the University of Michigan Institute of Social Research, Special thanks to graphic designer Mark Saba for creating survival figure.

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