Could Enjoying Life Affect Life Expectancy in Older Adults?

According to a new observational study, there may be a connection between long-term positive wellbeing and enjoyment of life in older adults and mortality. Their findings indicated that high levels of enjoyment of life within a 4-year period was inversely associated with mortality.

Researchers at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College London performed an observational study on 9365 men and women 50 years and older using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing from the 2002 through 2006 assessments. Outcomes were measured with the time of death after the 2006 phase of data collection and 2013. The average follow-up for participants was 6.5 years. Four items from the CASP-19 quality of life measurement were used to index the enjoyment of life in participants, ranging from 0 to 4.
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Overall, 3205 (34%) of participants had 3 reports of high levels of enjoyment of life during the assessments in the longitudinal study, 2063 (22%) reported 2, and 1833 (20%) reported 1. There were 2262 (24%) participants who reported no high levels of enjoyment of life on any occasion. According to the data, women were more likely to report higher levels of enjoyment of life compared to men. Likewise, participants who were married or cohabitating, well-educated, wealthier, and currently employed reported higher levels of enjoyment of life.

There were 1310 deaths within the 6.5-year follow-up, 30% were those who reported no high levels of enjoyment of life, 23% reported 1, 22% reported 2, and 25% reported 3.

“Our results indicate that the maintenance of positive wellbeing over a 4 year period is systematically related to subsequent mortality. A graded effect was apparent, with progressively higher mortality among people with fewer reports of high enjoyment,” the researchers stated.

Further research is needed to study the biological and behavioral meditators between positive wellbeing and mortality to better understand how high levels of enjoyment of life influence patients’ health.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Zaninotto P, Wardle J, Steptoe A. Sustained enjoyment of life and mortality at older ages: analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing [published online December 13, 2016]. BMJ. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6267.