Can Churchgoing Increase Lifespan? - study suggests that church attendance may help contribute to a longer life - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 1999

Explorers' quests for a fountain of youth revealed no cure for wrinkles, but researchers found a promising factor that added years to one's life when studying an affluent California county: attending church was linked with longer lives. More than 2,000 residents of Marin County aged 55 or older were followed for nearly five years and their death rates tracked. A host of possible factors that could contribute to health and living longer were recorded to see which might have an effect on longer life. Over that half-decade, 454 of those people died. The most significant factor predicting who still lived was attending religious services. "For each sex, weekly attendees had the lowest mortality and nonattendees had the highest mortality," indicate researchers Douglas Oman and Dwayne Reed.

Might a trip to the movies help just as much as going to church? Further analyses showed "only attending church was significantly associated with mortality [delaying death], although attending museums or art galleries was marginally protective."

Would social support from joining groups such as the Rotary Club or Hospital Auxiliary show the same health benefits in longer life as going to church? The researchers discovered that this was not so when analyzing other social support and meeting attendance. However, they noted that, although substituting other clubs for church failed to help people live longer, a "complementary" effect appeared. Persons who engaged in volunteer work along with attending religious services were even more likely to live longer.

The researchers analyzed an extensive range of factors that could affect health as other explanations for why those attending religious services might live longer. These included age, sex, race, ethnic group, income, education, and employment; chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses; physical functioning and driving status; health habits such as exercise, drinking, smoking, body fat, and seeking medical care; social participation, activities, marital status, health of spouse, and having confidants; and psychological status like depression and fearfulness.

"Even after controlling for six classes of potential confounding and intervening variables, we were unable to explain the protection against mortality offered by religious attendance," the researchers concluded. Their finding supports other studies that showed attending religious services was linked with lower blood pressure, fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease, less depression, and a decrease in earlier death from all causes. "A broad implication is that religious and health organizations can develop closer collaborations on health prevention campaigns. The tenfold increase in the past three years in number of medical schools offering instruction in religious and spiritual issues indicates a growing medical interest."