title: The Impact of Subjective Well-being on Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies in the General Population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of the study were to assess whether subjective well-being is a protective factor for mortality in the general population and to analyze the differential impact of evaluative, experienced, and eudaimonic well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic review of articles in the PsycINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. Data on the studies' characteristics, quality, and the effects of variables were extracted. A meta-analysis was conducted on the studies included in the systematic review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 62 articles that investigated mortality in general populations, involving 1,259,949 participants, were found, and added to those considered in a previously published review (n = 14). The meta-analysis showed that subjective well-being was a protective factor for mortality (pooled hazard ratio = 0.920; 95% confidence interval = 0.905-0.934). Although the impact of subjective well-being on survival was significant in both men and women, it was slightly more protective in men. The three aspects of subjective well-being were significant protective factors for mortality. The high level of heterogeneity and the evidences of publication bias may reduce the generalizability of these findings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that subjective well-being is associated with a decreased risk of mortality. Longitudinal studies examining changing levels of well-being and their relationship to longevity would be required to establish a cause-effect relationship. Establishing such a causal relationship would strengthen the case for policy interventions to improve the population subjective well-being to produce longevity gains combined with optimizing quality of life.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Psychiatry (Martín-María, Miret, Caballero, Rico-Uribe, Ayuso-Mateos), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Martín-María, Miret, Caballero, Rico-Uribe, Ayuso-Mateos), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Spain; Department of Psychiatry (Martín-María, Miret, Caballero, Rico-Uribe, Ayuso-Mateos), Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IIS-La Princesa), Madrid, Spain; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (Steptoe), University College London, United Kingdom; and Department of Information (Chatterji), Evidence and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martín-María
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miret
authors.forename: Francisco Félix
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.forename: Laura Alejandra
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rico-Uribe
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steptoe
authors.forename: Somnath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterji
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ayuso-Mateos
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life