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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Does religious attendance prolong survival?
— a six-year follow-up study of 3,968 older adults | | Author(s) | Harold G Koenig, Judith C Hays, David B Larson |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 54A, no 7, July 1999 |
| Pages | pp M370-376 |
| Keywords | Worship ; Longevity ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | 3,968 community-dwelling adults aged 63 to 101 were identified for this study in 1986 from the Duke University, North Carolina site of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE). Attendance at religious services and a wide variety of sociodemographic and health variables were assessed at baseline. Vital status of members was determined over the next six years, and time to death was analysed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. During a median 6.3 year follow-up period, 1,777 died (29.7%) Of those attending religious services once a week or more in 1988 (frequent attenders), 22.9% died compared to 37.4% of those attending less than once a week. Overall, older people, particularly women, who attended religious services at least once a week appear to have a survival advantage over those attending service less frequently. However, the factors examined are not sufficient to explain the relationship between religious attendance and longer survival. Replication of these findings is required. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-991220233 A |
| Classmark | OWL: BGA: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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