ArticleThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2022
Purpose in Life May Delay Adverse Health Outcomes in Old Age.
Article in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 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.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 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 grip strength: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 115,972 participants from 24 countries across four continents.GeroScience · 2025Pooled it
- Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis.Archives of gerontology and geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Wellbeing trajectories and dementia risk among Mexican-origin adults living in the U.S.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- High purpose in life of older adults is associated with younger age, higher education, and being female.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2026Article
- Purpose and Meaning in Life in Older Age: A Correlational Meta-Analysis.Research square · 2026Article
- Purpose in Life and Estimated Type 2 Diabetes Risk: Cross-Sectional Associations Across Three Validated Risk Scores in 93,077 Spanish Working Adults.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Life Purpose Lowers Risk for Cognitive Impairment in a United States Population-Based Cohort.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2025Article
- Spiritual Well-Being and Phenoconversion in Huntington's Disease: Analysis from the Prospective Huntington at Risk Observational Study.Journal of palliative medicine · 2025Observational
- 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
- Bidirectional Relationships Between Well-Being and Cognitive Function.Psychological science · 2025Article
- Meaning in life and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the UK Biobank.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2025Article
- Purpose in life and accelerometer-measured physical activity among older adults.Psychology & health · 2025Article
- The Interplay of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in Caregiver Health: Insights from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.Research square · 2024Article
- Purpose in life as a resilience factor for brain health: diffusion MRI findings from the Midlife in the U.S. study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Change in Decision-Making Analysis and Preferences in Old Age.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Well-Being as a Protective Factor Against Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Review
- Addressing Psychosocial Factors in Cognitive Impairment Screening from a Holistic Perspective: The DeCo-Booklet Methodology Design and Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Modifiable psychosocial risk factors and delayed onset of dementia in older populations: analysis of two prospective US cohorts.BMJ open · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTest the hypothesis that a higher level of purpose in life is associated with an older age of Alzheimer's dementia onset and later mortality.
designProspective cohort studies of aging and Alzheimer's dementia.
settingCommunity-based.
participantsTwo thousand five hundred fifty-eight older adults initially free of dementia underwent assessments of purpose in life and detailed annual clinical evaluations to document incident Alzheimer's dementia and mortality. General accelerated failure time models examined the relation of baseline purpose in life with age at Alzheimer's dementia diagnosis and mortality. EXPOSURES: Purpose in life was assessed at baseline. MAIN OUTCOMES: Alzheimer's dementia diagnosis was documented annually based on detailed clinical evaluations and mortality was documented via regular contacts and annual evaluations.
resultsDuring a mean of 6.89 years of follow-up, 520 individuals were diagnosed with incident Alzheimer's dementia at a mean age of 88 (SD = 6.7; range: 64.1-106.5). They had a mean baseline level of purpose in life of 3.7 (SD = 0.47; range: 1-5). A higher level of purpose in life was associated with a considerably later age of dementia onset (estimate = 0.044; 95% CI: 0.023, 0.065); specifically, individuals with high purpose (90th percentile) developed Alzheimer's dementia at a mean age of about 95 compared to a mean age of about 89 for individuals with low purpose (10th percentile). Further, the estimated mean age of death was about 89 for individuals with high purpose compared to 85 for those with low purpose. Results persisted after controlling for sex and education. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Purpose in life delays dementia onset and mortality by several years. Interventions to increase purpose in life among older persons may increase healthspan and offer considerable public health benefit.
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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.