Arts, culture and sports engagement and self-rated health: a cross-sectional population-based study in southern Sweden

Abstract Background International research demonstrates an association between arts and culture activities and health and wellbeing. A similar association exists for sports event attendance and health. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between arts and culture engagement and attending sports events during the past year and self-rated health (SRH). Methods A cross-sectional study. A public health survey with three reminders was sent to a stratified random sample of the adult 18–84 population in Scania in the southernmost part of Sweden in October-December 2019. The weighted response rate was 44%, and 40,087 total respondents were included in the present study. Analyses were performed in logistic regression models with multiple adjustments for age, education, country of birth, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), smoking, alcohol consumption, and economic stress. Results The prevalence of poor SRH was 32.8% among women and 27.6% among men. The prevalence of theatre/cinema attendance was 63.2% among women and 55.2% among men, arts exhibition/museum attendance was 41.0% among women and 36.0% among men, and for sports attendance it was 33.8% among women and 48.2% among men. All items included in the final models showed statistically significant associations with self-rated health in bivariate logistic regression models. In the multiple model, adjusted for all covariates including both men and women, the odds ratios (ORs) of poor SRH were statistically significant OR 1.21 (95% confidence interval: 1.14–1.29) for not visiting theatre/cinema during the past year, OR 1.11 (1.04–1.17) for not visiting arts exhibition and OR 1.31 (1.24–1.39) for not visiting a sports event. Conclusions Significant associations between arts and culture engagement and sports event attendance, and SRH were observed, although effect measures were comparatively low for arts and cultural engagement. The results may be useful for informing public health promotion and prevention strategies.