Religious variables are infrequently reported in clinical research.
BACKGROUND
More than 200 published studies have found some relationship between an individual's religion and health, yet reference to religious variables rarely appears in published empirical studies.


METHODS
We performed a manual search of all articles reporting on human subjects in the 1989 issues of seven major medical journals to record and analyze religious and other demographic variables.


RESULTS
Only 12 of the 1,066 articles (1.1%) mentioned religion, and eight of these mentioned only denominational affiliation.


CONCLUSIONS
Most clinical investigators do not report on the religious variables of their subjects and thus may be missing important correlations.
Orr
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RD
Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago.
Isaac
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D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012107:Research Design