RT Journal
A1 Boyle PA, Buchman AS, Barnes LL, Bennett DA
T1 EFfect of a purpose in life on risk of incident alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons
JF Archives of General Psychiatry
JO Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 2010
FD March 1
VO 67
IS 3
SP 304
OP 310
DO 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.208
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.208
AB Context 
    Emerging data suggest that psychological and experiential factors are associated with risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but the association of purpose in life with incident AD is unknown.Objective 
    To test the hypothesis that greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of AD.Design 
    Prospective, longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging.Setting 
    Senior housing facilities and residences across the greater Chicago metropolitan area.Participants 
    More than 900 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project.Main Outcome Measures 
    Participants underwent baseline evaluations of purpose in life and up to 7 years of detailed annual follow-up clinical evaluations to document incident AD. In subsequent analyses, we examined the association of purpose in life with the precursor to AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and the rate of change in cognitive function.Results 
    During up to 7 years of follow-up (mean, 4.0 years), 155 of 951 persons (16.3%) developed AD. In a proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, and education, greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially reduced risk of AD (hazard ratio, 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.69; P < .001). Thus, a person with a high score on the purpose in life measure (score = 4.2, 90th percentile) was approximately 2.4 times more likely to remain free of AD than was a person with a low score (score = 3.0, 10th percentile). This association did not vary along demographic lines and persisted after the addition of terms for depressive symptoms, neuroticism, social network size, and number of chronic medical conditions. In subsequent models, purpose in life also was associated with a reduced risk of MCI (hazard ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.95; P = .02) and a slower rate of cognitive decline (mean [SE] global cognition estimate, 0.03 [0.01], P < .01).Conclusion 
    Greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of AD and MCI in community-dwelling older persons.