Religious practices and changes in health-related quality of life after hospital discharge for an acute coronary syndrome

Abstract

Background Religious beliefs and practices influence coping mechanisms and quality of life in patients with various chronic illnesses. However, little is known about the influence of religious practices on changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among hospital survivors of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The present study examined the association between several items assessing religiosity and clinically meaningful changes in HRQOL between 1 and 6 months after hospital discharge for an ACS. Methods We recruited patients hospitalized for an ACS at six medical centers in Central Massachusetts and Georgia (2011–2013). Participants reported making petition prayers for their health, awareness of intercessory prayers by others, and deriving strength/comfort from religion. Generic HRQOL was assessed with the SF-36®v2 physical and mental component summary scores. Disease-specific HRQOL was evaluated using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire Quality of Life subscale (SAQ-QOL). We separately examined the association between each measure of religiosity and the likelihood of experiencing clinically meaningful increase in disease-specific HRQOL (defined as increases by ≥10.0 points) and Generic HRQOL (defined as increases by ≥3.0 points) between 1- and 6-months post-hospital discharge. Results Participants ( n = 1039) were, on average, 62 years old, 33% were women, and 86% were non-Hispanic White. Two-thirds reported praying for their health, 88% were aware of intercessions by others, and 85% derived strength/comfort from religion. Approximately 42, 40, and 26% of participants experienced clinically meaningful increases in their mental, physical, and disease-specific HRQOL respectively. After adjustment for sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics, petition (aOR:1.49; 95% CI: 1.09–2.04) and intercessory (aOR:1.72; 95% CI: 1.12–2.63) prayers for health were associated with clinically meaningful increases in disease-specific and physical HRQOL respectively. Conclusions Most ACS survivors in a contemporary, multiracial cohort acknowledged praying for their health, were aware of intercessory prayers made for their health and derived strength and comfort from religion. Patients who prayed for their health and those aware of intercessions made for their health experienced improvement in their generic physical and disease-specific HRQOL over time. Healthcare providers should recognize that patients may use prayer as a coping strategy for improving their well-being and recovery after a life-threatening illness. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12955-019-1218-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Religious Struggle and Life Satisfaction Among Adult Christians: Self-esteem as a Mediator

“…There is a growing body of research indicating that negative feelings toward the divine or religious community are often linked with lower levels of life satisfaction (Abu-Raiya et al 2018;Szcześniak et al 2019). Zarzycka and Zietek (2018) found that divine, demonic, interpersonal, moral, doubt, and ultimate meaning domains of religious struggle correlated negatively with life satisfaction, confirming some previous studies conducted among various groups of patients (Abu et al 2019;Manning-Walsh 2005;Park et al 2011;Ursaru et al 2014). Since life satisfaction is a broad concept (Loewe et al 2014) and dissatisfaction with life manifests itself in some poor health outcomes (Gigantesco et al 2019), it is valuable to investigate how religious struggle relates to some indicators of life satisfaction.…”

Racial and socioeconomic status differences in stress, posttraumatic growth, and mental health in an older adult cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The use of acceptance and religion as a coping strategy has been associated with better health-related quality of life. 41 , 42 Denial was the least endorsed coping strategy for non-Hispanic, White persons and substance use was the least endorsed coping strategy for Black respondents. These findings are in line with a previous study investigating stress during the pandemic.…”

Posicionamento sobre Hipertensão Arterial e Espiritualidade – 2021

“…95 Os pacientes que oraram por sua saúde e os que estavam cientes das intercessões feitas por terceiros em intenção à sua saúde experimentaram melhorias na qualidade de vida relacionadas à saúde ao longo do tempo. 96 No Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), não foram observados padrões consistentes de associação entre as medidas de religiosidade e presença/extensão de DCV subclínica na avaliação basal ou incidentes dela ao longo de 4 anos. 97 Com relação à associação entre espiritualidade/ religiosidade e fatores de risco CV, os achados são discordantes.…”