Religious Attendance and Biological Risk: A National Longitudinal Study of Older Adults

Age Changes in Religious Service Attendance in Mexican American Older Adults: A Growth Curve Analysis

OBJECTIVES

This study examines age patterns in religious attendance in older Mexican Americans. Previous research has focused on majority-white samples, limiting generalizability to other groups. Research in ethnic minority populations is needed.

METHODS

We descriptively analyze Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (Hispanic EPESE) data and estimate a mixed effects linear growth curve model to assess the relationship between age and religious attendance. Results: Descriptive results reveal an inverse U-shaped pattern of religious attendance. Results from the growth curve model indicate rising religious attendance after age 65 and a decline after the mid-70s, an earlier decline compared to majority-white studies. Discussion: These findings have implications for individual well-being, the functioning of religious congregations, and for understanding the patterning of a salient form of social participation among older adults. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and to examine religious attendance patterns in understudied populations.

Medieval monastic health: Variation in skeletal signs of inflammation and developmental stress between religious orders in London

OBJECTIVES

Previous bioarchaeological analyses of medieval monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries in London revealed evidence of lower risks of mortality, and thus better health, in the monastic settings. However, comparison of the two monastic communities, Bermondsey Abbey and Merton Priory, which adhered to different religious ideals, suggested lower risks of mortality in the former. This study examines patterns of skeletal biomarkers, which reflect developmental stress or inflammation, in an attempt to clarify the possible underlying mechanisms producing apparent health differences in these monastic communities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study uses skeletal data on age-at-death, periosteal new bone formation (PNBF), and cribra orbitalia from 558 adults (18 years of age and older) estimated to be male from Bermondsey Abbey and Merton Priory. Biomarker age patterns are assessed via Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and binary logistic regression. Differences in frequencies of biomarkers between the monastic sites are evaluated using Chi-square and hierarchical log-linear analyses.

RESULTS

In general, PNBF is positively associated with age, and cribra orbitalia is negatively associated with age. The frequency of PNBF formation is significantly higher and that of cribra orbitalia is significantly lower in Bermondsey Abbey compared with Merton Priory.

CONCLUSIONS

The differences in frequencies of these skeletal biomarkers support previous findings suggesting that health conditions were better in Bermondsey Abbey than in Merton Priory. The age patterns of cribra orbitalia suggest that these differences reflect conditions and the greater health-promoting effects of religiosity or isolation from the lay community in Bermondsey Abbey rather than differences in selective admissions processes.

The association between religious beliefs and values with inflammation among Middle-age and older adults

Objectives: Dimensions of religion and spirituality are associated with better emotional, physical, and cognitive health. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not well known. We investigated the relationship between dimensions of religion and spirituality with levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of systematic inflammation, in middle-aged and older adults in the United States.Methods: In this descriptive longitudinal study using secondary data, we used proportional odds models of the generalized estimating equation (GEE) to assess the association between religious beliefs and values and religious service attendance with CRP levels from respondents (n = 2,385) aged 50 years and older in the Health and Retirement Study from 2006 to 2014.Results: Middle-aged to older adults who reported higher religious beliefs and values had lower levels of CRP, controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, race, household income, and health, such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and body mass index (BMI).Conclusion: Religious beliefs and values are associated with lower CRP levels among middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. This study adds to the understanding of biological processes underlying the relationship between dimensions of religion and spirituality with better cognitive and physical health, potentially through inflammation.

Religion and Pandemic Weight Gain: A Refuge from the Storm?

The COVID-19 pandemic was an inherently stressful global crisis that was associated with weight gain for over 40% of the American public. Building on previous research, we draw on recently collected national survey data from the United States to examine the effects of religious attendance (both in-person and virtual), the sense of divine control, and religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles on pandemic weight gain. A series of logistic regression models were conducted. Our findings suggest that divine control and monthly in-person religious attendance were associated with a lower risk of pandemic weight gain, while R/S struggles were associated with a higher risk of weight gain. Our results reveal the complex role that religiosity can play with respect to pandemic weight gain.

Positive Effects of Religion and Social Ties on the Health of Former NFL Athletes

This study explores the relationship between religious service attendance, social ties, and health among former NFL players, a population with relatively high levels of religious attendance who endure physically demanding occupations. Research shows that frequent religious service attenders tend to have better health, partly because of social connections formed through religious involvement. We analyzed a sample of 1029 former NFL players. Consistent with previous research, bivariate and multivariate OLS regression models show that frequent religious attenders have statistically significantly better self-rated health. However, this relationship is moderated by social ties. Respondents who scored lower on the social ties index exhibited a stronger significant relationship between frequent religious attendance and health; those scoring higher on the social ties index exhibited no relationship between frequent attendance and health. Future research should examine how benefits of religious attendance vary depending upon strength of social relationships.

Review of the Cardiovascular Implications of the Social and Religious Practices Associated with Donning Phylacteries

We previously published a manuscript suggesting that use of phylacteries, ritual straps worn during Jewish prayer services, affects cardiovascular and inflammatory function (Owens et al., Am J Physiol-Heart Circ Physiol, 315(6):H1748-H1758, 2018). Observed physiologic changes were associated with improved cardiac outcomes, though a direct link between phylactery use and improved cardiovascular outcomes is difficult to prove as there are a number of associated religious and spiritual practices that may confound the observed effects. In this review, we assess the scientific literature regarding religious and spiritual practices associated with phylactery in order to better understand the cardiovascular implications of the practice of donning phylacteries. We focus on key aspects traditionally associated with donning phylacteries including gathering in groups, meditation and prayer.

Enhancing the Utility of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to Identify Drivers of Rising Mortality Rates in the United States

A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) highlights rising rates of working-age mortality in the United States, portending troubling population health trends for this group as they age. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is an invaluable resource for researchers studying health and aging dynamics among Americans ages 50 and above and has strong potential to be used by researchers to provide insights about the drivers of rising U.S. mortality rates. This paper assesses the strengths and limitations of HRS data for identifying drivers of rising mortality rates in the U.S. and provides recommendations to enhance the utility of the HRS in this regard. Among our many recommendations, we encourage the HRS to prioritize the following: link cause of death information to respondents; reduce the age of eligibility for inclusion in the sample; increase the rural sample size; enhance the existing HRS Contextual Data Resource by incorporating longitudinal measures of structural determinants of health; develop additional data linkages to capture residential settings and characteristics across the life course; and add measures that capture drug use, gun ownership, and social media use.

The Association of Religion and Spirituality with Obesity and Weight Change in the USA: A Large-Scale Cohort Study

The association between religion, spirituality, and body weight is controversial, given the methodological limitations of existing studies. Using the Nurses' Health Study II cohort, follow-up occurred from 2001 to 2015, with up to 35,547 participants assessed for the religious or spiritual coping and religious service attendance analyses. Cox regression and generalized estimating equations evaluated associations with obesity and weight change, respectively. Religious or spiritual coping and religious service attendance had little evidence of an association with obesity. Compared with not using religious or spiritual coping at all, the fully adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were minimally different across categories: a little bit (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.92-1.18), a medium amount (HR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.96-1.24), and a lot (HR = 1.10; 95% CI: 0.96-1.25) (P_trend = 0.17). Compared with participants who never or almost never attend religious meetings or services, there was little evidence of an association between those attending less than once/month (HR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.97-1.10), 1-3 times/month (HR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.90-1.13), once/week (HR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.83-1.02), and more than once/week (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.82-1.07) (P_trend = 0.06). Findings were similar for weight change. There was no significant association between religious or spiritual coping, religious service attendance, obesity, and weight change. While religion and spirituality are prominent in American society, they are not important psychosocial factors influencing body weight in this sample.

The association between religiosity, spirituality, and breast cancer screening: A cross-sectional analysis of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

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Religion and spirituality provide a foundation for regulating health behaviors such as cancer screening.

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However, religion and spirituality were not associated with mammography in a population-level sample of women from Alberta, Canada.

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Religion and spirituality may be associated with mammography in population subgroups.

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Future research should employ longitudinal analyses.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women. Screening permits the early detection and treatment of malignancies, thereby reducing mortality. A woman’s religiosity and spirituality (R/S) may facilitate screening through encouragement of healthy behaviors. Population-level data from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP) were used to explore the cross-sectional association between R/S and breast cancer screening among women aged 50 to 69 years who did not have a history of breast cancer. Two variables were used to measure R/S: (1) R/S Salience was defined as the importance of religion and spirituality in one’s life; (2) R/S Attendance was defined as the frequency of attendance at religious or spiritual services. We regressed breast cancer screening (mammogram: yes/no) on each R/S variable in separate multivariable logistic regression models. At baseline (n = 2569), 94% of women reported receiving a mammogram. Greater R/S Salience was not associated with receipt of mammogram: the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was 1.04 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71–1.51. R/S Attendance also showed no association with mammogram: attending at least once monthly versus never attending (aOR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.71–1.69); attending one to four times yearly versus never attending (aOR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.57–1.58). Further research could examine specific subgroups of the population, e.g., whether use of R/S to promote breast cancer screening may be more effective among females with strong pre-existing connections to faith.

Religious attendance and global cognitive function: A fixed-effects cross-lagged panel modeling study of older U.S. adults

OBJECTIVES

Evidence linking religious attendance to better cognitive function is based on flawed study designs. No population representative longitudinal studies on the topic have taken both unobserved confounding and reverse causation into account. Recently developed fixed-effects cross-lagged panel modeling (FE-CLPM) offers simultaneous traction on these issues. It also allows parsing of long-from short-run effects. Using FE-CLPM and ten-year data from the Health and Retirement Study-a national probability sample of U.S. adults over age 50-this study began to fill the gaps above.

METHODS

Gender-specific FE-CLPM models were used to examine bidirectional and within-person linkages of religious attendance with global cognitive function. Granger-Sims "causality" tests further examined short-run effects in both directions. Impulse response analysis was used to explore time patterns in these linkages.

RESULTS

At least among women, religious attendance had negative short-term prospective linkages with global cognitive function. Over successive time points, these associations increased in strength among both genders. Feedback effects-of cognitive status on religious attendance-were found in both women's and men's models, but had a gender-specific pattern.

DISCUSSION

Results contradict a large literature positing cognitive benefits of religiosity. Instead, they lend support to a recent "neural resource depletion" model-especially among women. Overall, findings illustrate the "dark side" of religious engagement, which studies increasingly present as a social determinant with "outcome wide" positive effects on multiple health dimensions.

Allostatic Load and Its Impact on Health: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

Allostatic load refers to the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events. It involves the interaction of different physiological systems at varying degrees of activity. When environmental challenges exceed the individual ability to cope, then allostatic overload ensues. Allostatic load is identified by the use of biomarkers and clinical criteria.

OBJECTIVE

To summarize the current knowledge on allostatic load and overload and its clinical implications based on a systematic review of the literature.

METHODS

PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to December 2019. A manual search of the literature was also performed, and reference lists of the retrieved articles were examined.We considered only studies in which allostatic load or overload were adequately described and assessed in either clinical or non-clinical adult populations.

RESULTS

A total of 267 original investigations were included. They encompassed general population studies, as well as clinical studies on consequences of allostatic load/overload on both physical and mental health across a variety of settings.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that allostatic load and overload are associated with poorer health outcomes. Assessment of allostatic load provides support to the understanding of psychosocial determinants of health and lifestyle medicine. An integrated approach that includes both biological markers and clinimetric criteria is recommended.

United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect

Religious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants attending Christian rituals. We assessed levels of social bonding and affect before and after the rituals. Results showed the increase in social bonding taking place in secular rituals is comparable to religious rituals. We also found that both sets of rituals increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, and that the change in positive affect predicted the change in social bonding observed. Together these results suggest that secular rituals might play a similar role to religious ones in fostering feelings of social connection and boosting positive affect.

The Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Accumulation of Stress Among Black Men in the Health and Retirement Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Among the multiple factors posited to drive the health inequities that black men experience, the fundamental role of stress in the production of poor health is a key component. Allostatic load (AL) is considered to be a byproduct of stressors related to cumulative disadvantage. Exposure to chronic stress is associated with poorer mental health including depressive symptoms. Few studies have investigated how AL contributes to depressive symptoms among black men. The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to examine the association between AL and depressive symptoms among middle- to old age black men.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This project used the 2010 and 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study enhanced face-to-face interview that included a biomarker assessment and psychosocial questionnaire. Depressive symptoms, assessed by the endorsement of 3 or more symptoms on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression 8-item scale, was the outcome variable. The main independent variable, AL, score was calculated by summing the number values that were in the high range for that particular biomarker value scores ranging from 0 to 7. black men whose AL score was 3 or greater were considered to be in the high AL group. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

There was a larger proportion of black men in the high AL group who reported depressive symptoms (30.0% vs. 20.0%) compared with black men in the low AL group. After adjusting for age, education, income, drinking, and smoking status, the prevalence of reporting 3 or more depressive symptoms was statistically significant among black men in the high AL group (PR = 1.61 [95% CI: 1.20-2.17]) than black men in the low AL group.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Exposure to chronic stress is related to reporting 3 or more depressive symptoms among black men after controlling for potential confounders. Improving the social and economic conditions for which black men work, play, and pray is key to reducing stress, thereby potentially leading to the reporting of fewer depressive symptoms.

Perceived racism, affectivity, and C-reactive protein in healthy African Americans: Do religiosity and racial identity provide complementary protection?

Perceived racism contributes to cardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities among African Americans. Psychosocial factors that protect against the effects of perceived racism therefore may be reflected by indicators of CVD risk, including C-reactive protein (CRP). The current cross-sectional study examined whether CRP is linked to religiosity and racial identity-two culturally-enshrined individual differences that can protect against the harmful effects of racism. Healthy African Americans completed self-report measures of everyday racism, religious intensity (a measure of the importance of religion/spirituality), and racial centrality (a measure of racial identity strength). We measured positive and negative affectivity as outcomes (N = 534), and we collected a dried bloodspot measure of CRP (N = 118). Religious intensity and racial centrality were independently associated with greater positive affectivity, and interactively associated with negative affectivity and CRP-when perceived racism was high, strongly identified African Americans had significantly higher CRP, but lower negative affectivity, when they were also low in religious intensity. Results highlight that religiosity and racial identity may interactively protect against the effects of racism and may play a role in CVD disparities.