Frequency of Private Spiritual Activity and Cardiovascular Risk in Post-menopausal Women: The Women's Health Initiative
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UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral MedicineDepartment of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
Document Type
Accepted ManuscriptPublication Date
2013-05-01Keywords
Women's HealthCardiovascular Diseases
Spirituality
Postmenopause
women's health
cardiovascular diseases
spirituality
Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
CardiologyCardiovascular DiseasesClinical EpidemiologyReligionWomen's Health
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Purpose: Spirituality has been associated with better cardiac autonomic balance, but its association with cardiovascular risk is not well studied. We examined whether more frequent private spiritual activity was associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Methods: Frequency of private spiritual activity (prayer, Bible reading, and meditation) was selfreported at year 5 of follow-up. Cardiovascular outcomes were centrally adjudicated, and cardiovascular risk was estimated from proportional hazards models. Results: Final models included 43,708 women (mean age: 68.9±7.3; median follow-up: 7.0 years) free of cardiac disease through year 5 of follow-up. In age-adjusted models private spiritual activity was associated with increased cardiovascular risk (HR: 1.16; CI 1.02, 1.31, weekly vs. never; 1.25; CI 1.11, 1.40, daily vs. never). In multivariate models adjusted for demographics, lifestyle, risk factors, and psychosocial factors, such association remained significant only in the group with daily activity (HR 1.16; CI: 1.03, 1.30). Subgroup analyses indicate this association may be driven by the presence of severe chronic diseases. Conclusion: In aging women, higher frequency of private spiritual activity was associated with increased cardiovascular risk, likely reflecting a mobilization of spiritual resources in order to cope with aging and illness.Source
Annals of Epidemiology 2013 May;23(5):239-45. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2013.03.002. Link to final version of article on publisher's websiteDOI
10.1016/j.annepidem.2013.03.002Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26404PubMed ID
23621989Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedRights
This is the authors' final, peer-reviewed version of the article as prepared for publicationScopus Count
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