title: The relationship between religion and cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.
abstract: Some studies suggest that religiosity may be related to health outcomes. The current investigation, involving 92,395 Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants, examined the prospective association of religious affiliation, religious service attendance, and strength and comfort from religion with subsequent cardiovascular outcomes and death. Baseline characteristics and responses to religiosity questions were collected at enrollment. Women were followed for an average of 7.7 years and outcomes were judged by physician adjudicators. Cox proportional regression models were run to obtain hazard ratios (HR) of religiosity variables and coronary heart disease (CHD) and death. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and prior health variables, self-report of religious affiliation, frequent religious service attendance, and religious strength and comfort were associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality [HR for religious affiliation = 0.84; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75-0.93] [HR for service attendance = 0.80; CI: 0.73-0.87] [HR for strength and comfort = 0.89; CI: 0.82-0.98]. However, these religion-related variables were not associated with reduced risk of CHD morbidity and mortality. In fact, self-report of religiosity was associated with increased risk of this outcome in some models. In conclusion, although self-report measures of religiosity were not associated with reduced risk of CHD morbidity and mortality, these measures were associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality.
authors.affiliation: Yeshiva College, Yeshiva University, New York 10033, USA. Schnall@yu.edu
authors.forename: Eliezer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schnall
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wassertheil-Smoller
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Swencionis
authors.forename: Vance
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zemon
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tinker
authors.forename: Mary Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Horn
authors.forename: Mimi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goodwin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019370:Observation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health