Church attendance, allostatic load and mortality in middle aged adults.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Religiosity has been associated with positive health outcomes. Hypothesized pathways for this association include religious practices, such as church attendance, that result in reduced stress.

Objective

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between religiosity (church attendance), allostatic load (AL) (a physiologic measure of stress) and all-cause mortality in middle-aged adults.

Design, setting and participants

Data for this study are from NHANES III (1988-1994). The analytic sample (n = 5449) was restricted to adult participants, who were between 40-65 years of age at the time of interview, had values for at least 9 out of 10 clinical/biologic markers used to derive AL, and had complete information on church attendance.

Main outc

SUBMITTER: Bruce MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5433740 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature