The Relationship between Religious Attendance and Blood Pressure: The Hunt Study, Norway

Sørensen, Torgeir; Danbolt, Lars Johan; Lien, Lars; Koenig, Harold G.; Holmen, Jostein

doi:10.2190/pm.42.1.b

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Using a cold pressor stress response test in healthy subjects, blood pressure, pulse and serum cortisol were less increased in religious subjects than in non-religious subjects when exposed to acute painful stress [21]. Further support of stress alleviation includes the association between RA and low blood pressure [22] and between spirituality and lower urinary cortisol excretion in chronic pain patients [23]. An interesting explanation of the association between migraine and RA may be the possibility that spirituality is a way to reduce the allostatic load (biological consequences of chronic exposure to repeated or chronic stress responses) that has been suspected in migraine and other pain conditions [24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between headache and religious attendance (the Nord-Trøndelag health study- HUNT)

et al. 2014

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BackgroundReligious belief can be used as a pain coping strategy. Our purpose was to evaluate the relationship between headache and religious activity using prospective data from a large population-based study.MethodsThis longitudinal cohort study used data from two consecutive surveys in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey (HUNT 2 and 3) performed in 1995–1997; and 2006–2008. Among the 51,383 participants aged ≥ 20 years who answered headache questions at baseline, 41,766 were eligible approximately 11 years later. Of these, 25,177 (60%) completed the question in HUNT 3 regarding religious activity. Frequent religious attendees (fRA) (used as a marker of stronger religious belief than average) were defined as those who had been to church/prayer house at least once monthly during the last six months.ResultsIn the multivariate analyses, adjusting for known potential confounders, individuals with headache 1–14 days/month in HUNT 2 were more likely to be fRA 11 years later than headache-free individuals. Migraine at baseline predisposed more strongly to fRA at follow-up (OR = 1.25; 95% CI 1.19-1.40) than did non-migrainous headache (OR = 1.13; 95% 1.04-1.23). The odds of being fRA was 48% increased (OR 1.48; 95% 1.19-1.83) among those with migraine 7–14 days/month at baseline compared to subjects without headache. In contrast, headache status at baseline did not influence the odds of being frequent visitors of concerts, cinema and/or theatre at follow-up 11 years later.ConclusionsIn this prospective study, headache, in particular migraine, at baseline slightly increased the odds of being fRA 11 years later.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between headache and religious attendance (the Nord-Trøndelag health study- HUNT)

et al. 2014

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“…Several studies have also found that meditation reduces cortisol levels, high levels of which can have myriad negative effects on health, such as immunosuppression, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, and neuron atrophy (Koenig et al, ; Carlson et al, ; Tang et al, ). Frequent or regular attendance at religious services is associated with reduced blood pressure (Sørensen et al, ), lower prevalence of coronary heart disease (Banerjee et al, ), lower risk of stroke (Obisesan et al, ), and lower overall mortality risks (Gillum et al, ). The disease contexts of medieval populations and the living populations in which most studies of health and religion are conducted are certainly quite different, with higher infectious disease mortality in the former.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medieval monastic mortality: Hazard analysis of mortality differences between monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries in England

DeWitte

Boulware

Redfern

2013

American J Phys Anthropol

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Scholarship on life in medieval European monasteries has revealed a variety of factors that potentially affected mortality in these communities. Though there is some evidence based on age-at-death distributions from England that monastic males lived longer than members of the general public, what is missing from the literature is an explicit examination of how the risks of mortality within medieval monastic settings differed from those within contemporaneous lay populations. This study examines differences in the hazard of mortality for adult males between monastic cemeteries (n = 528) and non-monastic cemeteries (n = 368) from London, all of which date to between AD 1050 and 1540. Age-at-death data from all cemeteries are pooled to estimate the Gompertz hazard of mortality, and "monastic" (i.e., buried in a monastic cemetery) is modeled as a covariate affecting this baseline hazard. The estimated effect of the monastic covariate is negative, suggesting that individuals in the monastic communities faced reduced risks of dying compared to their peers in the lay communities. These results suggest better diets, the positive health benefits of religious behavior, better living conditions in general in monasteries, or selective recruitment of healthy or higher socioeconomic status individuals.

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“…The literature review focused on the relationship between religious attendance, prayer, meditation and associated blood‐pressure recordings. Several studies found an association between frequency of religious attendance (once/week) and lower blood pressure when compared with people who attended religious services infrequently (< once/week) (Gillum & Ingram, ; Sørensen et al ., ; Bell et al ., ; Koenig et al ., ). Frequency of prayer has also been found to be related to lower blood pressure (Bernardi et al ., ; Belding et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Buddhist religious practices and blood pressure among elderly in rural Uttaradit Province, northern Thailand

Stewart

Yamarat

Neeser

et al. 2013

Nursing & Health Sciences

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The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between Buddhist religious practices and blood pressure. A cross-sectional survey of Buddhist religious practices and blood pressure was conducted with 160 Buddhist elderly in rural Uttaradit, northern Thailand. After controlling for the variables of gender, status, education, salary, underlying hypertension, exercise, salt intake, and taking antihypertensive medications, it was found that lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure is associated with the Buddhist religious practice of temple attendance. The Buddhist older people who regularly attended a temple every Buddhist Holy day (which occurs once a week) were found to have systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings lower than people who did not attend as regularly. It is recommended that nurses advocate for temple attendance in the care protocols for older Buddhist hypertensive patients both in Thailand and internationally.

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The Relationship between Religious Attendance and Blood Pressure: The Hunt Study, Norway

Abstract: In a large population-based survey in Norway, RA was associated with lower DBP and SBP after adjusting for relevant variables.

Cited by 34 publications

References 19 publications

The relationship between headache and religious attendance (the Nord-Trøndelag health study- HUNT)

The relationship between headache and religious attendance (the Nord-Trøndelag health study- HUNT)

Medieval monastic mortality: Hazard analysis of mortality differences between monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries in England

Buddhist religious practices and blood pressure among elderly in rural Uttaradit Province, northern Thailand

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