ArticleAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2018
Association Between Purpose in Life and Glucose Control Among Older Adults.
Article in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Purpose in life and mortality: A meta-analysis of the published literature and individual-participant data of 488,765 participants followed for up to 32 years.Psychological medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Purpose in life and c-reactive protein: An individual-participant meta-analysis of >50,000 adults.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Purpose in life and lung function: an individual-participant meta-analysis of six cohort studies.Respiratory research · 2025Pooled it
- Sense of Purpose in Life Is Associated with Lower Risk of Incident Dementia: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2021Pooled it
- Matters of the Heart and Soul: The Mixed Impact of Religiosity and Spirituality on the Cardiovascular Risk Profile Over Time.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Purpose in life and blood-based biomarkers of brain health.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Meaning in life and Parkinson's disease: Evidence from a 17-year study across 14 countries.Archives of gerontology and geriatrics · 2026Article
- Article
- A qualitative study of midlife women with type 2 diabetes in the UK: Exploring the impact of diabetes on their well-being.PloS one · 2026Article
- Potential Mechanisms of Influence Between Spiritual Practices and Cognitive Health: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Model.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Trajectories of Purpose in Life Across Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementias in Older Adulthood.Journal of aging and health · 2025Article
- The role of purpose in life in healthy aging: implications for the Semmelweis Study and the Semmelweis-EUniWell Workplace Health Promotion Model Program.GeroScience · 2025Review
- Volunteering and Risk of Heart Attack in Later Life: The Moderating Role of Purpose in Life?Research on aging · 2025Article
- Meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the UK Biobank.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2025Article
- Associations for Sense of Purpose with Smoking and Health Outcomes Among Adults with Diabetes.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- A review of the literature on wellbeing and modifiable dementia risk factors.Ageing research reviews · 2024Review
- Contributions of Eudaimonic Well-Being to Mental Health Practice.Mental health and social inclusion · 2023Article
- Healthy Eating as Potential Mediator of Inverse Association between Purpose in Life and Waist Circumference: Emerging Evidence from US and Chilean Cohorts.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Purpose in life and markers of immunity and inflammation: Testing pathways of episodic memory.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2023Article
- Association between subjective well-being and all-cause mortality among older adults in China.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Greater purpose in life is associated with lower rates of certain chronic diseases. Whether purpose in life can protect against development of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes is unknown. Purpose: To examine the association between purpose in life and blood glucose control among adults ≥50 years. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 3,907 participants of the Health and Retirement Study who at baseline did not have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. Baseline purpose in life was measured using the Ryff and Keyes' Scales of Psychological Well-Being and grouped into tertiles (high, medium, and low). We used multivariable linear regression to examine the association between baseline purpose in life and HbA1c over 4 years. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between baseline purpose and incident prediabetes or type 2 diabetes over the same period. Results: After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, body mass index, physical activity, and physical and mental health factors, HbA1c was 0.07 percentage points lower among participants with high purpose than those with low purpose (95% confidence interval [CI] -0.12 to -0.02; p = .011). Participants with high purpose had lower odds of developing prediabetes or type 2 diabetes than those with low purpose (adjusted odds ratio 0.78; 95% CI 0.62 to 0.98; p = .037). Conclusions: Among older adults, greater purpose in life is associated with a lower incidence of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Strategies to promote greater purpose in life should be tested as a part of type 2 diabetes prevention efforts.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.