Frequency of attendance at religious services and cigarette smoking in American women and men: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
BACKGROUND
Data are lacking from representative samples of total populations and Hispanic Americans on the association of cigarette smoking and religiousness/spirituality, a protective factor for mortality, and on the validity of self-reported smoking data for religious research.


METHODS
The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) included 18,774 persons aged 20 years and over with complete data on self-reported frequency of attendance at religious services, and cigarette smoking.


RESULTS
After stratifying by age, gender, and ethnic group, and adjusting for age, education, region, and health status, infrequent attenders (<24 times/year) were much more likely to be smokers than frequent attenders; odds ratios (95% confidence limits) ranged from 1.74 (1.45-2.10) to 3.06 (1.86-5.03). Among current smokers, frequent attenders smoked an average of 1-5 fewer cigarettes per day. Using serum cotinine > or =14 ng/mL as the gold standard for current smoking, under-reporting of smoking did not vary appreciably with frequency of attendance: false negative percentage for never smokers 3.1% in frequent attenders, 4.2% in others.


CONCLUSIONS
Greater frequency of attendance at religious services was associated with lower smoking prevalence by self-report or serum cotinine in a national, multi-ethnic sample.
Gillum
R F
RF
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 3311 Toledo Road, Room 6424, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA. rfg2@cdc.gov
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012067:Religion; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D003367:Cotinine