Being religious may not mean healthier

A number of studies over the past two decades have shown that religious people tend to be healthier. But recent research suggests that when it comes to heart disease and clogged arteries, attending religious services or having spiritual experiences may not protect against heart attacks and strokes.

Researchers reviewed data from 5,474 people who were part of another study and expected to see less risk for heart disease among those with more religiosity. The researchers defined religiosity as participation in religious activities, prayer or meditation, and spirituality, regardless of denomination. They did not report the religious faiths of study participants.

Over the course of 4 years, it was found that those in the study had 152 events related to heart disease or clogged arteries, including 9 deaths, 42 heart attacks, and 24 strokes. That rate of such events - less than one percent per year - was lower than in the general population, which the team expected because they excluded people who were already diagnosed with heart disease and related conditions.

However, neither the rate of heart disease events, nor the number of certain risk factors - such as high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure - differed among those who were more or less religious or spiritual. The only exceptions: Those who went to religious services, otherwise prayed or meditated, or were highly spiritual were more likely to be obese, and less likely to smoke. Given that many religions discourage smoking tobacco, the smoking finding was not difficult to explain and was consistent with earlier studies.

The reasons for the obesity finding, which is similar to some previous studies but the opposite of others, are less clear. According to the researchers it is not clear whether it is that religious people are more likely to gain weight through activities they pursue, or maybe heavier people seek out religion as a result of stigmatisation.

The study also had a lot of limitations that make the meaning of the results unclear. For example, the low rate of heart attacks and other events could be a weakness of the study, because at small numbers, the likelihood of an effect is more difficult to tease out. Half of the people studied were either African American or Hispanic - groups that, on average, have poorer access to health care than do whites and Asian Americans, who made up the rest of the study sample.

Though the findings are interesting, the researchers emphasise the need for further research in the field.