Listening to Music Linked โขto โฃNearly 40% Lower Dementia Risk in New Study
SYDNEY,โฃ AUSTRALIA – Regularly listening to musicโข may significantly reduce theโ risk of dementia in olderโ adults, according to research published in โthe Internationalโ Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. A cohort study of โover 10,893 Australians aged 70 and older found that consistently listening to music was associated with a 39% decreased risk of dementia (95% CI = 0.45, 0.82,p* = 0.001).
The study, utilizing data from the ASPirin โคinโ Reducing Events in theโฃ Elderly (ASPREE) study and its Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) sub-study, also โขrevealed benefits from actively *making music. Participants who often or always played an instrumentโค experienced a 35% decreased dementia riskโ (95% CI = 0.42, 0.99, p* = 0.047).Combining both โคlistening and playing music correlated with a 33% decreased dementia risk (95% CI = 0.51, 0.89, *p โ = 0.006) and aโค 22% decreased risk of โcognitive impairment no dementiaโ (CIND) (95% CI = 0.65, 0.92, p* = 0.004).
Researchers, led by Emma Jaffa, used cox proportional hazard โregression models to analyze the data, โadjusting for age, gender, and education level. They โขalso employed linear mixedโข models to assess โคtheโข impact on cognitive wellbeing.
Theโ study furtherโ indicated that consistent music listening was linked to better global cognition and memory over time (p* < โข0.001,*p* = 0.004, respectively). Theโ positive effects โwere generally more pronounced in individuals โคwith more than 16 years of education.
While music engagement didn’t โdemonstrably impact subjective cognitive wellbeing, the โคfindings suggest โขmusic represents a “promising,โค accessible strategy to help reduce cognitive impairment and delay the onsetโฃ of dementia in later life,” the authors conclude.
