The Mediating Effect of Depression in Religiosity and Cognitive Function among Chinese Muslim Elderly

Sun, Yan; Ma, Wanrui; Wu, Yanxiao; Koenig, Harold G.; Wang, Zhizhong

doi:10.4172/neuropsychiatry.1000432

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similarly, previous research has also shown a moderating effect of church attendance on the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive function, where higher levels of church attendance appears to have buffered the negative impact of depressive symptoms on cognitive function 83 . A Chinese study using a structural equation modelling (SEM), found that religiosity partly improves cognitive functioning due to its inverse relationship with depression possibly by increasing social networks 84 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of religiosity and religious participation in the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older Indian adults

Muhammad

2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Due to different nature of social engagements of older adults in South Asian countries specially attributed to the traditional family-based care and support, beneficial effects of religiosity and religious involvement on mental health and cognitive function in older age might be different than those in the Western world. Yet, there is a paucity of research in these countries on the role of religion in moderating the relationship between late life depression and cognition. This study explored the association of depressive symptoms with cognitive impairment and the moderating effects of religiosity and religious participation in those associations among older Indian adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted on data that were drawn from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India wave-1, collected during 2017–2018. The sample size comprised of 31,464 older adults aged 60 years and above. Shortened 10-item Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Items from the Mini-Mental State Examination and the cognitive module of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and the Mexican Health and Aging Study were adapted for measuring cognitive impairment. Moderated multiple linear regression models were used to test the research hypotheses of the study. The proportion of older adults who reported religion as less important to them was 21.24%, whereas, only 19.31% of the respondents participated in religious activities. The mean score of cognitive impairment (on a scale of 0–43) in the current sample was 19.43 [confidence interval (CI): 19.32–19.53] among men and 23.55 [CI: 23.44–23.66] among women. Older adults with depressive symptoms had significantly higher likelihood of cognitive impairment [aCoef: 0.18, CI: 0.16–0.20] in comparison to older adults with no depressive symptoms. Older individuals who were religious were significantly less likely to have cognitive impairment [aCoef: − 0.43, CI: − 0.61 to − 0.25] than their non-religious counterparts. Compared to older adults who did not participate in religious activities, those who participated in religious activities were less likely [aCoef: − 0.52, CI: − 0.69 to − 0.34] to have cognitive impairment. Further, significant moderating effects of religiosity and religious participation in the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment were observed. The current study contributes to advancing knowledge about the mental health benefits of religiosity and religious participation by focusing on older adults in India who culturally have limited chances to participate in social activities. The findings suggest that older adults with depressive symptoms may participate in religious activities which may reduce their chances of cognitive impairment. This protective effect of religiosity and religious participation on late life cognitive health has important implications for promoting alternative social support mechanisms for older adults in terms of enhancing their mental wellbeing and contributing to active aging.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of religiosity and religious participation in the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older Indian adults

Muhammad

2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Since spirituality increases in importance as a person ages, the present study suggests that supporting the older persons spirituality may be another way to improve their mental and physical health, doing so by accommodating their faiths during various interventions 44 . A higher DUREL score may also correlated with better memory, orientation and language skills, as others have shown 45 . As previous study found that spiritual practice can stimulate and activate the regions of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, where the cognitive function was in charged 46 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Mild cognitive impairment, Spirituality, and All-cause Mortality Among Older Adults in Mainland China: A Prospective Cohort Study

Xiong,

Ma,

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The association between spirituality, cognitive function, and risk of mortality is still unknown among older adults in mainland China. Methods: Data from a prospective cohort study of 4,705 community-dwelling older adults, including 915 with MCI, were analyzed. Measures included the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), which assessed the spirituality of the participants from years 2012 to 2016 (baseline). All-cause mortality records were linked with the National Cause of Death Surveillance System in the years 2017, 2019, and 2021. Cox proportional hazards regression modeling was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals to assess the effects of MCI and spirituality on all-cause mortality. In addition, the interaction between spirituality and MCI in predicting all-cause mortality was examined using moderation modeling. Results: A total of 387 deaths were identified during an average follow-up time of 87.3 months (SD=20.8). MCI was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR=2.07, 95%CI: 1.58-2.72), while high spirituality was associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality (HR=0.65, 95%CI: 0.49-0.86). Interaction effect of MCI and spirituality on all-cause mortality after adjusting for covariates (Relative Excess Risk of Interaction=0.82; Attributable Proportion =0.27; Synergy Index=1.67) was found, participants with low spirituality and MCI had the highest risk of mortality (HR=3.30, 95%CI: 2.40~4.52). Conclusions: MCI predicted an increased risk of all-cause mortality among Chinese older adults, and spirituality predicted a reduced risk. The findings suggest that a spiritually-integrated community intervention program may reduce the risk of mortality in older adults with cognitive impairment.

show abstract

“…Many researchers investigated the relationship between religion and health in people's late life (McFadden, 2005;Koenig et al, 2012;Schuurmans-Stekhoven, 2019). For instance, religious older people tend to have better cognitive function (Sun et al, 2018), decreased depression, improved optimism, self-esteem (McFarland, 2010) and report engaging in more health behaviours (Bakhtiari et al, 2018) relative to older adults who are not religious. However, religion may also have a negative influence on older adults' health.…”

Section: Religion and Health Among Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religiosity and health among Chinese older adults: a meta-analytic review

Wang

2020

Ageing and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ageing population has been rapidly growing over recent years. Theoretically, religion seemingly plays an important role in improving older people's health. This study examines whether believing in religion is related to better health conditions among Chinese older adults through a meta-analysis. Two researchers independently extracted the studies from a comprehensive database and grey literature search and evaluated their scientific quality. From the 3,777 potentially eligible papers, just 76 were selected. The pooled effect size detected no significant difference between Chinese religious and non-religious older adults’ overall health and wellbeing. Dividing the outcomes into different categories, religious older adults reported both a higher level of anxiety (Hedge's g = −0.392, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.494, −0.290; p = 0.004) and yet a higher level of happiness (Hedge's g = 0.342, 95% CI = 0.074, 0.610; p = 0.018). Having a higher proportion of females in the sample is related to a smaller effect size in overall health outcomes (β = −2.205, 95% CI = −3.800, −0.613; p = 0.007) and social support specifically (β = −4.660, 95% CI = −6.261, −3.058; p < 0.0001). This study is among the first to synthesise the quantitative evidence regarding health differences between older religion believers and non-believers in China. It calls for future studies investigating the pathways underlying the religion–health relationship.

show abstract

The Mediating Effect of Depression in Religiosity and Cognitive Function among Chinese Muslim Elderly

Cited by 7 publications

References 50 publications

The role of religiosity and religious participation in the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older Indian adults

The role of religiosity and religious participation in the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older Indian adults

Mild cognitive impairment, Spirituality, and All-cause Mortality Among Older Adults in Mainland China: A Prospective Cohort Study

Religiosity and health among Chinese older adults: a meta-analytic review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About