Frequency of private spiritual activity and cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Elena Salmoirago-Blotcher ; MD ; PhD^a ; ^{Elena.Salmoirago-Blotcher@umassmed.edu} ; George Fitchett ; PhD^b ; Kathleen M. Hovey ; MS^c ; Eliezer Schnall ; PhD^d ; Cynthia Thomson ; PhD^e ; Christopher A. Andrews ; PhD^f ; Sybil Crawford ; PhD^a ; Mary Jo O'Sullivan ; MD^g ; Stephen Post ; PhD^h ; Rowan T. Chlebowski ; MD ; PhDⁱ ; Judith Ockene ; PhD^a
• 关键词：Women's health ; Cardiovascular diseases ; Spirituality
• 刊名：Annals of Epidemiology
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：May, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：23
• 期：5
• 页码：239-245
• 全文大小：270 K

文摘

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 self-reported 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 ¡À 7.3 years; 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 (hazard ratio [HR], 1.16; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.31 for weekly vs. never; HR, 1.25; 95 % CI, 1.11-1.40 for 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; 95 % CI, 1.03-1.30). Subgroup analyses indicate this association may be driven by the presence of severe chronic diseases.

Conclusions

Among aging women, higher frequency of private spiritual activity was associated with increased cardiovascular risk, likely reflecting a mobilization of spiritual resources to cope with aging and illness.