Frequency of Attendance at Religious Services, Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic Risk Factors and Dietary Intake in Americans: An Age-Stratified Exploratory Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Background: Few data have been published on the association of attendance at religious services with cardiovascular morbidity and dietary and metabolic risk factors in representative samples of populations despite a known inverse association with mortality and smoking. Objective: To test the null hypothesis that frequency of attendance at religious services is unrelated to prevalence or levels of cardiovascular disease, dietary and metabolic risk factors. Design: Cross-sectional survey of a large national sample. Participants: American men and women aged 20 years and over with complete data in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( n = 14,192). Measurements: Self-reported frequency of attendance at religious services, history of doctor-diagnosed diseases, food intake frequency, 24-hour dietary intake, health status, socio-demographic variables and measured serum lipids and body mass index. Results: Weekly attenders were significantly less likely to report stroke, even after adjusting for multiple variables only in African American women OR=0.35, 95% CI 0.19–0.66, p < 0.01. No association was seen for heart attack or diabetes. Fish intake at least weekly was more common in weekly attenders, significantly so only in African American women (odds ratio 1.24, 95% CI 1.01–1.58, p < 0.05) and in older Mexican American men (odds ratio 2.57, 95% CI 1.45–2.57, p < 0.01). In linear regression analyses, no significant independent associations were seen between attendance frequency and serum lipid levels or dietary intake of energy, or fat in g and % of kcal. Conclusion: Hypotheses generated by these analyses are that in African American women stroke is less prevalent and weekly fish intake more prevalent among weekly attenders than others and that there are no significant independent associations of serum lipids, dietary intake, prevalent CHD, or diabetes with frequency of attendance of religious services. Independent testing of these hypotheses in other samples is needed.
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Among the 10 highest-quality diet studies, seven (70%) reported a better diet among those who were more R/S.
“Among the 10 studies with the highest quality ratings, seven (70%) reported a better diet among those who were more R/S [213, 306–310].”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [310]
The Results report more frequent fish intake among weekly religious-service attenders, significant in two subgroups. But the Conclusions say there was no consistent association with dietary intake, and this paper does not assess study-quality ratings or report that seven of ten studies found a better diet. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSocial support has long been known to protect against disease and increase longevity.
“Social support, in turn, has long been known to protect against disease and increase longevity [354–356].”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [356]
The Introduction (page not provided) says social support may help explain the health benefits of religious attendance, and it reports an inverse association between religiousness and mortality. It does not establish that social support itself protects against disease or increases longevity; it presents that mechanism as a possibility. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTwo lower quality studies and five well-done studies (13%, including one at a trend level) reported higher BP in the more R/S or with religious fasting.
“Two lower quality studies [405, 406] and five well-done studies [407–411] (13%, including one at a trend level), however, reported higher BP in the more R/S or with religious fasting.”
From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [409]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says that associations with hypertension and blood pressure would be published separately. This paper therefore does not report the higher-BP finding attributed to it; its broader cardiovascular and metabolic results do not establish that finding. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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References 34 · Cited by 39
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- Authors
- Obisesan, T., Livingston, I., Trulear, H. D., & Gillum, F.
- Affiliations
- Howard University (US)
- Silver Spring, MD
- Corresponding author
- Gillum, Frank
- Venue
- The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-12
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 435-448
- ISSN
- 0033-278X (ISSN-L)
- 0091-2174
- 1541-3527
- PMC
- PMC3160830
- OpenAlex
- W2041206721
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (K23AG000980)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religious service attendance, cardiovascular disease, stroke, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, metabolic risk factors, dietary intake, fish consumption, serum lipids, body mass index, African American women, Mexican American men, age-stratified analysis, NHANES
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Animals, Cerebral Infarction, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Fishes, Food Preferences, Health Status, Health Surveys, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Lipids, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Religion and Medicine, Risk Factors, Statistics as Topic, Nutrition Assessment, Diet Records, Body Mass Index
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