Overview

• Published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, the pooled study examined four cohorts with follow-ups ranging from six to 28 years.
• Describing oneself as “active” was the strongest single predictor of lower mortality, associated with about a 21% reduced risk after adjusting for age, sex and medical conditions.
• Conscientiousness-related descriptors such as organised, responsible, hardworking and thorough were linked to roughly 12–15% lower mortality risk.
• Neuroticism-linked words including moody, anxious and easily upset correlated with higher risk of earlier death.
• Smoking, BMI, physical activity and chronic illness explained part of the associations, yet researchers stress the findings are observational and any clinical use, such as screening, remains exploratory.