Meaning in life and Parkinson’s disease in the UK Biobank

Abstract

Introduction: Meaning in life is an aspect of eudaimonic well-being associated with lower dementia risk. This research examines whether this protective association extends to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: Participants (N = 153,569) from the UK Biobank reported on their meaning in life. Cases of PD were identified through health records. Results: Meaning in life was associated with a 50 % lower likelihood of prevalent PD (OR = 0.68, 95 % CI = 0.59–0.78). Over the 5-year follow-up, meaning was associated with a 35 % lower risk of incident PD (HR = 0.74, 95 % CI = 0.65–0.83), an association robust to sociodemographic characteristics, depression, history of seeking mental health care, smoking, physical activity, and genetic risk and not moderated by age, sex, education, deprivation, or genetic risk. Conclusions: Meaning in life is associated with lower risk of incident PD, an association independent of other major risk factors and generalizable across sociodemographic groups. Meaning is a promising target of intervention for common neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords

• Meaning
• Purpose in life
• Parkinson’s disease
• Neurodegenerative