title: Religion and healthy lifestyle behaviors among postmenopausal women: the women's health initiative.
abstract: Worship attendance has been associated with longer survival in prospective cohort studies. A possible explanation is that religious involvement may promote healthier lifestyle choices. Therefore, we examined whether attendance is associated with healthy behaviors, i.e. use of preventive medicine services, non-smoking, moderate drinking, exercising regularly, and with healthy dietary habits. The population included 71,689 post-menopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative observational study free of chronic diseases at baseline. Attendance and lifestyle behaviors information was collected at baseline using self-administered questionnaires. Healthy behaviors were modeled as a function of attendance using logistic regression. After adjustment for confounders, worship attendance (less than weekly, weekly, and more than weekly vs. never) was positively associated with use of preventive services [OR for mammograms: 1.34 (1.19, 1.51), 1.41 (1.26, 1.57), 1.33 (1.17, 1.52); breast self exams: 1.14 (1.02, 1.27), 1.33 (1.21, 1.48), 1.25 (1.1, 1.43); PAP smears: 1.22 (1.01, 1.47-weekly vs. none)]; non-smoking: [1.41 (1.35, 1.48), 1.76 (1.69, 1.84), 2.27 (2.15, 2.39)]; moderate drinking [1.35 (1.27, 1.45), 1.60 (1.52, 1.7), 2.19 (2.0, 2.4)]; and fiber intake [1.08 (1.03, 1.14), 1.16 (1.11, 1.22), 1.31 (1.23, 1.39), respectively], but not with regular exercise or with lower saturated fat and caloric intake. These findings suggest that worship attendance is associated with certain, but not all, healthy behaviors. Further research is needed to get a deeper understanding of the relationship between religious involvement and healthy lifestyle behaviors and of the inconsistent patterns in this association.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. Elena.Salmoirago-Blotcher@umassmed.edu
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salmoirago-Blotcher
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fitchett
authors.forename: Judy K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ockene
authors.forename: Eliezer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schnall
authors.forename: Sybil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Granek
authors.forename: JoAnn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Manson
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ockene
authors.forename: Mary Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Lynda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rapp
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017698:Postmenopause; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D016387:Women's Health