Religion and survival among European older adults

Abstract

There are several pathways through which religion can affect longevity. Previous research, predominately from North America, has shown decreased mortality risk for participants that attended religious services. This study aims to examine the association between religion and all-cause mortality in a large sample of older European adults, comparing religious affiliations, and using prayer frequency as well as frequency of participation in a religious organisation as measures of religiousness. To this end, a total of 16,062 participants from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe were employed for a survival analysis (median follow-up 11.3 years; 3790 recorded deaths). Following a religion was negatively associated with mortality regardless of demographic and socioeconomic factors (HR = 0.81; 95% CI 0.74–0.89). Large differences in the median survival of participants from different religious affiliations can be mostly attributed to demographic and socioeconomic factors. Both frequency of prayer and religious participation exhibited a significant positive dose–response relationship with survival despite adjustments, although the results for religious participation were more profound. Changes on the religiosity levels of the European population will require additional research on the subject in the future.