SynthesisArchives of gerontology and geriatrics2023
Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
45 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 58 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
- Life satisfaction and risk of dementia in older adults: findings from 15 European countries and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Purpose in life and lung function: an individual-participant meta-analysis of six cohort studies.Respiratory research · 2025Pooled 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
- Human neural correlates of emotional well-being (EWB): a preliminary systematic review and meta-analysis of MRI studies based on a recent consensus definition.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Purpose in life and slow walking speed: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Purpose in life and stress: An individual-participant meta-analysis of 16 samples.Journal of affective disorders · 2024Pooled it
- [Modifiable risk and protective factors for dementia: an overview of established and emerging evidence].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Review
- Purpose in life and concurrent and incident fatigue.Psychology, health & medicine · 2026Article
- Purpose in life and blood-based biomarkers of brain health.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Momentary associations between purpose in life and social connection from a micro-longitudinal study of everyday life.Acta psychologica · 2026Article
- The longitudinal relation between purpose in life and accelerometer-measured physical activity.Mental health and physical activity · 2026Article
- Meaning Beyond Memory, Meaning Beyond Alleviation: A Logotherapeutic and Attentional Ethics focus upon Dementia Care.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Meaning in life and Parkinson's disease: Evidence from a 17-year study across 14 countries.Archives of gerontology and geriatrics · 2026Article
- Is social connection the key to prevention? Educational attainment, incident dementia, and the role of later-life social engagement.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
- Purpose in life and coping strategies: Main associations and moderation by concurrent distress.PloS one · 2026Article
- Correlates of Purpose in Life and Their Potential Role in Successful Aging Among Older Adults in Rural Japan.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- 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
- Multidimensional Determinants of Obesity: The Role of Life Purpose, Sociodemographics, and Health Habits Across Four Adiposity Scales in a Large Occupational Cohort.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeA greater sense of meaning and purpose in life is associated with lower dementia risk. The present research examines meaning and incident dementia in the largest sample to date, the UK Biobank, and combines the findings with the published literature on meaning/purpose and dementia risk in a meta-analysis.
methodParticipants from the UK Biobank reported on their meaning in life in the 2016/2017 mental health assessment (N=153,445). All-cause and cause-specific dementia were derived from hospital and death records through November 2021. Cox regression was used to test the association between meaning in life and risk of incident dementia. Results from the UK Biobank were combined with published studies identified through a systematic literature review in a random-effect meta-analysis (k=8; total N=214,270).
resultsUK Biobank participants were followed up to five years after their assessment of meaning in life; 551 participants developed dementia. For every one-point higher feeling of meaning, there was a 35% decreased risk of all-cause dementia (HR=.74, 95% CI=.67-.82, p<.001). The association was similar controlling for clinical and behavioral risk factors and was not moderated by age, sex, education, or APOE risk status. Similar associations were found for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The meta-analysis supported the protective association between meaning/purpose and lower dementia risk (HR=.76, 95% CI=.72-.79, p<.001).
conclusionsThe present research supports the growing literature that meaning and purpose in life have a robust association with lower risk of developing dementia. Meaning/purpose is a promising intervention target for healthier cognitive outcomes in older adulthood.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.