Purpose in Life and Its Association to Parkinsonism

Purpose in life has been associated with diverse health outcomes; however, few studies have examined its associations with progressive motor decline in older adults. We tested if higher purpose would be associated with lower likelihood of incident parkinsonism as well as with lower levels and slower rates of increase in parkinsonian signs.

Participants were 2,626 older adults from the Rush Memory and Aging Project and Minority Aging Research Study followed for an average of 7.2 years (standard deviation [SD] = 4.6). Purpose was measured using the purpose in life subscale of the modified Ryff's and Keyes's measure of psychological well-being. Four parkinsonian signs (i.e., parkinsonian gait, rigidity, bradykinesia, and tremor) were assessed using the United Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. We examined purpose with risk of developing incident parkinsonism using Cox proportional hazards models. We also used linear mixed-effect models to assess the association between purpose and parkinsonian sign trajectories.

After including demographics, health conditions, and health behaviors in the model, for a 1-SD increase in purpose, the hazards ratio for incident parkinsonism was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.80, 0.97). A 1-SD increase in purpose was associated with a -0.19 (95% CI -0.24, -0.15) point lower score in the global parkinsonian summary score at baseline but no differences in rate of change were evident.

Higher purpose was associated with lower hazards of incident parkinsonism and lower levels of parkinsonian signs at baseline. Associations were seen even after adjustment for a wide range of covariates. Findings suggest higher purpose may contribute to maintenance of healthy physical function among older adults.