Does frequency or diversity of leisure activity matter more for epigenetic ageing? Analyses of arts engagement and physical activity in the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Over the past decade, ageing clocks have become widely adopted as important tools for understanding biological ageing and have been redefining notions of “pro-longevity” lifestyles. However, this work is still at an early stage. Some leisure activities, such as arts and cultural engagement (ACEng) have never been studied at all, while others such as physical activity (PA) have only received scant attention. In particular, there is little understanding of whether frequency of engagement or diversity (which provides access to more active ingredients) is more important. This study used 3,354 adults in the UK Household Longitudinal Study - a large, nationally-representative cohort study, which includes six derived epigenetic clocks. We used a doubly robust estimation using the inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment estimator adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural and health covariates, data collection gaps and technical covariates of epigenetic clocks. ACEng and PA were related to slower biological ageing in the PhenoAge and DunedinPoAm clocks, although not to the other measured clocks, with comparable effect sizes between ACEng and PA (Lin, Horvath2018, Horvath2013 and Hannum). For ACEng, diversity and frequency of engagement were related to DunedinPoAm, while for PhenoAge, there was a slightly clearer relationship for frequency than diversity. For PA, higher levels of frequency, diversity, and activeness were related to DunedinPoAm, while only the highest diversity and activeness were related to PhenoAge. These findings were all stronger amongst middle-aged and older adults. This was the first study to show a relationship between ACEng and epigenetic ageing, with comparable effect sizes to PA, suggesting the value of its exploration alongside other lifestyle factors. Decelerations in ageing clocks, including those within our study, have been demonstrated to have clinical (as well as statistical) importance, supporting future exploration as to whether lifestyle changes have any value to slowing or potentially reversing epigenetic ageing.