Over 74,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study had their religious service attendance assessed repeatedly by questionnaire and were followed for 20 years. By the end of follow-up, women who attended religious services more than once per week had a statistically significant 33% lower rate of mortality when compared to women who did not attend religious services. The association held after controlling for all known predictors of death in this cohort. JAMA Internal Medicine 2016; 176:777-85
Take Home Message
This is a fascinating
study to me. You don’t see a lot of literature on the subject of religious
beliefs and health outcomes, but the reduction in risk of mortality in this
investigation is strong and impressive.
The mechanism
for the reduction in risk of death in the religious is not known. However, the
authors suggest several possibilities:
2) Lower levels
of depression
3) Higher levels
of optimism
4) Religious
coping mechanisms
5) More purpose
in life
6) More self
discipline
7) Higher psycho-social
resilience
It is certainly
beyond the scope of this blog to make recommendations of a religious nature.
However, I just wanted all of my readers to be aware of this association,
because it appears to be a very important predictor of long-term health.
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