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A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity

Overview of attention for article published in Social Science & Medicine, July 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#3 of 11,946)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
202 news outlets
book_reviews
2 book reviewers
blogs
23 blogs
twitter
1596 X users
facebook
72 Facebook pages
wikipedia
7 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
16 Google+ users
reddit
3 Redditors
video
4 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
85 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
200 Mendeley
Title
A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity
Published in
Social Science & Medicine, July 2016
DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014
Pubmed ID
Authors

Avni Bavishi, Martin D. Slade, Becca R. Levy

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.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 1,596 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 200 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 2 1%
Spain 2 1%
United States 2 1%
Belgium 1 <1%
Switzerland 1 <1%
Poland 1 <1%
Unknown 191 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 31 16%
Researcher 25 13%
Student > Master 23 12%
Student > Bachelor 19 10%
Librarian 10 5%
Other 37 19%
Unknown 55 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 33 17%
Social Sciences 28 14%
Medicine and Dentistry 19 10%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 7 4%
Computer Science 7 4%
Other 42 21%
Unknown 64 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3039. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 March 2024.
All research outputs
#2,156
of 25,587,485 outputs
Outputs from Social Science & Medicine
#3
of 11,946 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#11
of 378,183 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Social Science & Medicine
#2
of 134 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,587,485 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,946 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 19.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 378,183 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 134 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.