ArticleBMC geriatrics2023
Happy people live longer because they are healthy people.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- The nine hallmarks of mental health and wellbeing as a watershed framework for resilient living and healthspan optimization.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Age-related variations in physical activity, happiness, and psychological well-being: Evidence from Iran.PloS one · 2025Article
- Perceptions About Aging and Aesthetics: A Global Study of Adults Aged 50 to 80 Years.Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum · 2025Article
- What Does It Mean to Successfully Age?: Multinational Study of Older Adults' Perceptions.The Gerontologist · 2024Article
- What factors preventing the older adults in China from living longer: a machine learning study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesHigher levels of happiness are associated with longer life expectancy. Our study assessed the extent to which various factors explain the protective effect of happiness on all-cause mortality risk, and whether the association differs between older men and women.
methodsUsing data from the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Studies (N = 6073) of community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 55 years, we analyzed the association of baseline Likert score of happiness (1 = very sad to 5 = very happy) and mortality from mean 11.7 years of follow up. Cox regression models were used to assess the extent to which confounding risk factors attenuated the hazard ratio of association in the whole sample and sex-stratified analyses.
resultsHappiness was significantly associated with lower mortality (p < .001) adjusted for age, sex and ethnicity: HR = 0.85 per integer score and HR = 0.57 for fairly-or-very happy versus fairly-or-very sad. The HR estimate (0.90 per integer score) was modestly attenuated (33.3%) in models that included socio-demographic and support, lifestyle or physical health and functioning factor, but remained statistically significant. The HR estimate (0.94 per integer score) was substantially attenuated (60%) and was insignificant in the model that included psychological health and functioning. Including all co-varying factors in the model resulted in statistically insignificant HR estimate (1.04 per integer score). Similar results were obtained for HR estimates for fairly-to-very happy versus fairly-to- very sad). DISCUSSION: Much of the association between happiness and increased life expectancy could be explained by socio-demographic, lifestyle, health and functioning factors, and especially psychological health and functioning factors.
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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.