Findings persisted even among people at high genetic risk for dementia
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Sept. 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A sense of purpose in life (PiL) is associated with a lower risk for and later onset of cognitive impairment, according to a study published online in the October issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Nicholas C. Howard, M.S.P.H., from the University of California, Davis, and colleagues investigated whether a sense of life purpose reduces the risk for or delays the onset of cognitive impairment. The analysis included 13,765 participants (aged 45 years and older) in the Health and Retirement Study followed for a median of eight years.
The researchers found that people with higher PiL had a significantly lower risk for developing cognitive impairment versus those with lower PiL when adjusting for sex, baseline age, educational attainment, average depressive symptom score, and race/ethnicity (hazard ratio, 0.72). The significant association persisted when additionally adjusting for APOE E4. Participants with higher PiL also had a later-onset age for cognitive impairment versus participants with lower PiL in adjusted analyses.
“While medications like lecanemab and donanemab can modestly delay symptoms of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer disease, they come with risks and costs,” Howard said in a statement. “Purpose in life is free, safe, and accessible. It’s something people can build through relationships, goals, and meaningful activities.”
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