Abstract
Objective
To determine whether self-reported religiosity is associated with decreased coronary mortality risk in middle-aged men when rates are adjusted for known confounders.
Design
The Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease (IIHD) Project (n=10,232) was chosen by stratified sampling of civil servants and municipal male employees, men aged 40–65 in 1963. Subjects were seen upon enrollment (1963) and at two follow-up visits (1965 and 1968). Extent of religiosity according to belief and practice collected in 1965 on a scale from 1 to 5. Religiosity was defined as follow: (1) The most-strict observance of religious rules “Haredim”. (2) “Religious” (3) “Traditional” (4) “Secular” (5) The part of the latter who declared themselves to be “nonbelievers” were categorized as “agnostic”.
Main outcome measure
Coronary heart disease (CHD) death, determined from death certificates in 23 years of follow-up
Results
Among 9245 participants, 1098 died from CHD during 23 years follow up. Ever smoking, Body mass index (BMI) and socioeconomic status were significantly lower while age and diabetes were higher according to increasing religiosity. Religiosity was inversely related to CHD mortality. Demographic, anthropometric characteristics according to religion, and odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (95% CI), for CHD mortality, (using agnostic as a reference group) are presented in table 1.
Characteristics according to religion Religiosity Haredim (n=2103) Religious (n=1528) Traditional (n=1782) Secular (n=2085) Agnostic (n=1747) P for trend Age years (SD) 50.2 (6.9) 48.8 (6.6) 48.4 (6.7) 48.8 (6.6) 45.9 (6.8) <0.001 Ever smoking% 58.7 67.6 70.7 71.9 72.6 0.001 Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) 136 (21) 135 (20) 135 (21) 134 (20) 135 (20) 0.115 Diabetes (%) 9.8 11.1 8.3 8.8 6.5 <0.001 Socioeconomic status 2.2 (1.3) 2.3 (1.1) 2.7 (1.1) 2.7 (1.2) 3.1 (1.4) <0.001 BMI kg/m2 (SD) 22.5 (3.6) 25.9 (3.5) 25.9 (3.2) 25.6 (3.2) 25.4 (2.9) 0.028 Cholesterol (mg%) 201 (38) 207 (41) 208 (39) 214 (40) 218 (40) 0.001 Number of death (% category) 187 (8.9) 161 (10.5) 185 (10.4) 228 (10.9) 225 (12.9) <0.001 OR (95% CI)* 0.67 (0.53–0.85) 0.85 (0.67–1.08) 0.84 (0.67–1.05) 0.87 (0.71–1.08) 1 *Adjusted for age, cigarette smoking, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, socioeconomic status, body mass index and cholesterol.
Conclusion
Religiosity was associated with lower CHD death in employed middle aged Israeli men followed up prospectively for 23 years.
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