Religious Struggle as a Predictor of Mortality Among Medically Ill Elderly Patients

Abstract

A NUMBER OF studies have documented a positive and robust relationship between religiousness and reduced risk of mortality. More frequent church attendance, in particular, has been predictive of lower risk of mortality, after controlling for other confounding effects.^1-5 Private forms of religiousness (eg, personal religiousness, frequency of prayer, comfort from faith) have been less consistently and less strongly associated with mortality.⁶ Studies in this area have generally relied on global benign measures of religiousness (eg, frequency of church attendance, self-rated religiousness). The form of these measures does not allow for the possibility that specific negative religious beliefs and behaviors may increase the risks of mortality.