Association between subjective well-being and exceptional longevity in a longevity town in China: a population-based study.

To examine the associations of cognitive and emotional facets (measured by life satisfaction [LS], positive affect [PA], negative affect [NA], and affect balance [AB]) of subjective well-being (SWB) with exceptional longevity (EL), we conducted a population-based study with 463 EL individuals (95+, EL group) recruited from a longevity town of Rugao, China (N = 755, with a response rate of 71.6 %), and 926 elderly individuals (60-69, elderly/control group). The population-based controls were sampled from the resident registry according to the gender ratio of the EL group. We found that the EL group had significantly higher levels of LS (30.74 vs. 28.93), PA (3.91 vs. 3.67), and AB (7.89 vs. 7.40) and a lower level of NA (1.02 vs. 1.27) than the elderly group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that higher levels of LS, PA, AB, and NA were significantly associated with EL, with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.98 (95 % CI, 1.36-2.89), 2.35 (95 % CI, 1.59-3.48), 2.56 (95 % CI, 1.75-3.75), and 0.50 (95 % CI, 0.33-0.74), respectively. Stratification analysis showed that the associations were significant in the healthy subsample, with the following ORs: LS = 2.31, PA = 2.53, AB = 3.05, and NA = 0.39. In conclusion, SWB, with high cognitive and emotional facets, was associated with EL in the healthy Rugao population. The findings imply that interventions that aim to improve elderly individuals' SWB may promote their quality of life and, ultimately, EL.