Purpose in life and markers of immunity and inflammation: Testing pathways of episodic memory

Abstract

Objective: This prospective cohort study examines whether purpose in life is associated with markers of immunity and inflammation and tests these markers as mediators between purpose and episodic memory. Methods: Participants from the Venous Blood Study of the Health and Retirement Study reported on their purpose in life, had their blood assayed for markers of immunity and inflammation, and were administered an episodic memory task (N = 8999). Regression analyses tested the association between purpose and each marker. Prospective mediation analyses (N = 6092) tested whether these markers measured in 2016 were mediators between purpose measured in 2012/2014 and episodic memory measured in 2018. Results: Higher purpose in life was associated with lower neutrophil counts (β = −0.08, p