Association Between Life Purpose and Mortality Among US Adults Older Than 50 Years
JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(5):e194270. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4270
Aliya Alimujiang, MPH; Ashley Wiensch, MPH; Jonathan Boss, MS; Nancy L. Fleischer, PhD, MPH; Alison M. Mondul, PhD, MPH; Karen McLean, MD, PhD; Bhramar Mukherjee, PhD; Celeste Leigh Pearce, PhD, MPH
Study followed 7,000 people were initially 51-61 years old
Those with a strong life purpose were 2.4 X less likely to die in the following 70 months
I should live a long life!
- Strong life purpose: Improve the health of people around the world
- Personally take a lot of vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega-3, etc for my my health to to feel good
See also Vitamin D Life
Mortality starts with:
People die sooner if they have low vitamin D
click on image for details
The Meta-analysis of Mortality and Vitamin D are listed here:
- Deaths from many types of Cancer associated with low vitamin D- review of meta-analyses Sept 2020
- People supplemented with Vitamin D had 13 percent fewer Cancer deaths – Meta-analysis of RCT June 2019
- Cancer with low Vitamin D increases Mortality by 13 percent – meta-analysis Feb 2019
- Decreased Vitamin D is associated with dying sooner (70 studies) – meta-analysis Jan 2019
- Prostate Cancer death 40 percent less likely if 40 ng level of vitamin D – Meta-analysis Oct 2018
- Review of meta-analyses of non-skeletal benefits of vitamin D (Mortality, RTI, etc) – July 2017
- Chronic Kidney Disease mortality is 60 percent less likely if good vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2017
- Lung Cancer death 60 percent less likely if high level of vitamin D – 2 meta-analysis 2017
- Breast Cancer Mortality reduced 60 percent if more than 60 ng of Vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2017
- Cardiovascular deaths 12 percent less likely if have 10 ng more vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2017
- ICU patients 30 percent less likely to die if have enough vitamin D – meta-analysis Nov 2016
- Less likely to die if have enough vitamin D - Meta-analysis June 2014
- Cancer survival 4 percent more likely with just a little more vitamin D (4 ng) - meta-analysis July 2014
- Death due to breast cancer reduced 40 percent if high vitamin D – meta-analysis April 2014
- Vitamin D reduces risk of cause specific death, unless it is D2 – meta-analysis BMJ April 2014
- More survive Breast Cancer if more vitamin D – 2X fewer deaths with just 30 ng -meta-analysis March 2014
- Colorectal and Breast Cancer – Vitamin D is associated with fewer deaths – meta-analysis Feb 2014
- Death of women from cancer 24 percent less likely if 20 ng more vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2013
- Chance of dying increases by 25 percent in seniors if low vitamin D – Meta-analysis July 2013
- Breast Cancer survival 2X more likely if vitamin D sufficient – meta-analysis May 2013
- Vitamin D with Calcium reduces mortality by 7 percent – meta-analysis May 2012
- Death rate reduced 8 percent for 8 nanogram more vitamin D – meta-analysis Feb 2012
- 40 ng Vitamin D perhaps optimal for reduced mortality – Meta-analysis Jan 2012
- Vitamin D3 but not D2 reduces mortality – meta-analysis July 2011
- Vitamin D and mortality a meta-analysis of RCT - 2008
Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life
IMPORTANCE A growing body of literature suggests that having a strong sense of purpose in life
leads to improvements in both physical and mental health and enhances overall quality of life. There
are interventions available to influence life purpose; thus, understanding the association of life
purpose with mortality is critical.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether an association exists between life purpose and all-cause or cause specific
mortality among older adults in the United States.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a national
cohort study of US adults older than 50 years. Adults between the ages of 51 to 61 were enrolled in
the HRS, and their spouses or partners were enrolled regardless of age. Initially, individuals born
between 1931 and 1941 were enrolled starting in 1992, but subsequent cohort enrichment was carried
out. The present prospective cohort study sample was drawn from 8419 HRS participants who were
older than 50 years and who had filled out a psychological questionnaire during the HRS 2006
interview period. Of these, 1142 nonresponders with incomplete life purpose data, 163 respondents
with missing sample weights, 81 participants lost to follow-up, 1 participant with an incorrect survival
time, and 47 participants with missing information on covariates were excluded. The final sample for
analysis was 6985 individuals. Data analyses were conducted between June 5, 2018, and April
22, 2019.
EXPOSURES Purpose in life was assessed for the 2006 interview period with a 7-item questionnaire
from the modified Ryff and Keyes Scales of Psychological Well-being evaluation using a Likert scale
ranging from 1 to 6, with higher scores indicating greater purpose in life; for all-cause and causespecific mortality analyses,
5 categories of life purpose scores were used (1.00-2.99, 3.00-3.99, 4.00-4.99, 5.00-5.99, and 6.00).
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES All-cause and cause-specific mortality were assessed between
2006 and 2010. Weighted Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate life purpose and mortality.
RESULTS Of 6985 individuals included in the analysis, 4016 (57.5%) were women, the mean (SD)
age of all participants was 68.6 (9.8) years, and the mean (SD) survival time for decedents was 31.21
(15.42) months (range, 1.00-71.00 months). Life purpose was significantly associated with all-cause
mortality in the HRS (hazard ratio, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.57-3.75, comparing those in the lowest life purpose
category with those in the highest life purpose category). Some significant cause-specific mortality
associations with life purpose were also observed (heart, circulatory, and blood conditions: hazard
ratio, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.62-4.38).
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This study’s results indicated that stronger purpose in life was
associated with decreased mortality. Purposeful living may have health benefits. Future research
should focus on evaluating the association of life purpose interventions with health outcomes,
including mortality. In addition, understanding potential biological mechanisms through which life
purpose may influence health outcomes would be valuable.
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