Abstract

Religion can have a favorable impact on individual-level health. The influence of religion on population health, however, remains less clear. This study investigated the association between religion and mortality at the population-level. Using county data, a meta-regression was performed to examine between-county mortality heterogeneity. The percent heterogeneity associated with religion variables were compared to demographics (i.e., place, race, language, age, and gender) and health factors (i.e., individual behaviors, clinical care, social and economic, and physical environment) as predictors of mortality. Religion was measured in terms of adherence (i.e., prevalence attending/belonging to a congregation), congregation density, and the diversity of adherents and congregation by denominations. Results showed counties with lower mortality were associated with higher proportions of religion adherents and a greater diversity of adherents and congregations. Counties with higher mortality were associated with higher religion congregation density. Religion, as a parsimonious multivariate model with all demographic and health factor predictors, had less added value when controlled for individual variables or constructs. The direction of association between religion and mortality was consistent, even when controlling for demographics and health factors, and thus merits further consideration as a population health determinant, as it may play a critical role in understanding other population health outcomes.

Highlights

  • Religion, defined, is both ubiquitous and variant across populations; a simple road trip is often sufficient to reveal how ubiquitous and variant religion is in the UnitedStates

  • Demographic, and health factor data were obtained from the County Health

  • Included in this table are the single covariate meta-regression model results reported as percent heterogeneity explained and the direction of association and statistical significance (p < 0.05) of the covariate reflected by color: yellow—

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Summary

Introduction

Defined, is both ubiquitous and variant across populations; a simple road trip is often sufficient to reveal how ubiquitous and variant religion is in the UnitedStates. Defined, is both ubiquitous and variant across populations; a simple road trip is often sufficient to reveal how ubiquitous and variant religion is in the United. A road trip would reveal considerable demographic variation such as population densities, race, and poverty/wealth; it would only be natural to wonder if these variances are related. There is considerable evidence of an individual-level relationship between religion and health, mostly with respect to mental and physical health and from a clinical perspective. The relationship at a population level has not been studied as extensively as it has at the individual level. The extant individual-level evidence and the ubiquity/variance of religion across populations warrants further study of religion as a determinant of population health [1].

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