Prayer and inflammation

: The relationship between attendance at religious services and cardiovascular inflammatory markers.

King DE, Mainous AG 3rd, Steyer TE, Pearson W.

Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown an association between attendance at religious services and health, particularly cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Little research has focused on religious attendance and physiological markers of cardiovascular risk. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between religious attendance and inflammatory markers of cardiovascular risk. METHOD: Nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized United States adults aged 40 and over derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III 1988-1994 (n = 10,059). The main outcome measures were the inflammatory system markers C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and white blood cell count. RESULTS: 40.8 percent of the population attended religious services 40 or more times in the previous year while 22.4 percent attended services less than 40 times and 36.8 percent attended no religious services at all. Non-attenders of religious services were more likely than attenders to have elevated white blood cell counts (p = .001), highly elevated C-reactive protein (p = .02), and elevated fibrinogen (p = .05). After adjusting for demographic variables, health status, and BMI, the association between religious attendance and cardiovascular markers remained. Once current smoking was added to the model the independent effect of religious attendance dropped below conventional confidence limits. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that people who have attended religious services in the previous year are less likely to have elevated levels of certain inflammatory markers, however, current smoking has significant shared variance with religious attendance.

PMID: 11949739 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

: Attendance at religious services, interleukin-6, and other biological parameters of immune function in older adults.

Koenig HG, Cohen HJ, George LK, Hays JC, Larson DB, Blazer DG.

Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, USA.

OBJECTIVE: First, to examine and explain the relationship between religious service attendance and plasma Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels, and second, to examine the relationship between religious attendance and other immune-system regulators and inflammatory substances. METHODS: During the third in-person interview (1992) of the Establishment of Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) project, Duke site, 1718 subjects age sixty-five or over had blood drawn for analysis of immune regulators and inflammatory factors, including IL-6 measurements. IL-6 was examined both as a continuous variable and at a cutoff of 5 pg/ml. Information on attendance at religious services was available from the 1992 interview and two prior interviews (1986 and 1989). RESULTS: Religious attendance was inversely related to high IL-6 levels (> 5 pg/ml), but not to IL-6 measured as a continuous variable. Bivariate analyses revealed that high religious attendance in 1989 predicted a lower proportion of subjects with high IL-6 in 1992 (beta-.10, p = .01) High religious attendance in 1992 also predicted a lower proportion of subjects with high IL-6 levels in 1992 (beta-.14, p = .0005). When age, sex, race, education, chronic illnesses, and physical functioning were controlled, 1989 religious attendance weakened as a predictor of high IL-6 (beta-.07, p = .10), but 1992 religious attendance retained its effect (beta-.10, p = .02). When religious attenders were compared to non- attenders, they were only about one-half as likely to have IL-6 levels greater than 5 ng/ml (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.40-0.84, p < .005). Religious attendance was also related to lower levels of the immune-inflammatory markers alpha-2 globulin, fibrin d-dimers, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and lymphocytes. While controlling for covariates weakened most of these relationships, adjusting analyses for depression and negative life events had little effect. CONCLUSIONS: There is a weak relationship between religious attendance and high IL-6 levels that could not be explained by other covariates, depression, or negative life events. This finding provides some support for the hypothesis that older adults who frequently attend religious services have healthier immune systems, although mechanism of effect remains unknown.

PMID: 9565726 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Diabetes Care. 2002 Jul;25(7):1172-6.

C-reactive protein, diabetes, and attendance at religious services.

King DE, Mainous AG 3rd, Pearson WS.

Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA. kingde@musc.edu

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown an association between attendance at religious services and health, particularly cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. People with diabetes have higher risk of cardiovascular mortality and higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels than people without diabetes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between religious attendance and CRP in people with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This study used cross-sectional survey and examination of a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized U.S. adults aged > or = 40 years, derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III 1988-1994 (n = 10,059). There were 556 people with diabetes. The primary outcome measure was the presence of elevated CRP. RESULTS: There were no differences between people with diabetes compared with people without diabetes in the percentage of those who attended religious services (62.29 vs. 62.0%, P = 0.36). Religious service nonattenders with diabetes were more likely than attenders to have an elevated CRP (odds ratio [OR] 2.17 [95% CI 1.15-4.09]). In people without diabetes, the association between attendance and CRP was not significant (P > 0.05). Among people with diabetes, after adjusting for demographic variables, health status, smoking, social support, mobility, and BMI, the association between religious attendance and CRP remained significant for respondents with diabetes (1.90 [1.03-3.51]). CONCLUSIONS: These findings revealed that people with diabetes who have not attended religious services in the previous year are more likely to have elevated levels of CRP. Further research should be conducted to evaluate this association to improve our understanding of the psychological and religious factors that influence diabetes.

Publication Types:

Multicenter Study

PMID: 12087015 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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