Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2019 Oct 4;74(8):e107-e118. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby098.
Existing literature shows religion is associated with health and survival separately. We extend this literature by considering health and survival together using a multistate life table approach to estimate total, disability-free, and disabled life expectancy (LE), separately for women and men, for 2 disability measures, and by 2 indicators of religion.
Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2014 waves). Predictors include importance of religion and attendance at religious services. The disability measures are defined by ADLs and IADLs. Models control for sociodemographic and health covariates.
Attendance at religious services shows a strong and consistent association with life and health expectancy. Men and women who attend services at least once a week (compared with those who attend less frequently or never) have between 1.1 and 5.1 years longer total LE and between 1.0 and 4.3 years longer ADL disability-free LE. Findings for IADL disability are similar. Importance of religion is related to total and disabled LE (both ADL and IADL), but the differentials are smaller and less consistent. Controlling for sociodemographic and health factors does not explain these associations.
By estimating total, disability-free, and disabled LE, we are able to quantify the advantage of religion for health. Results are consistent with previous studies that have focused on health and mortality separately.
现有文献表明，宗教与健康和生存分别相关。我们通过使用多状态生命表方法来考虑健康和生存的综合情况，对女性和男性的总生存、无残疾生存和残疾生存预期（LE）进行估计，分别使用两种残疾指标和两种宗教指标，从而扩展了这一文献。
数据来自健康与退休研究（1998-2014 年）。预测因素包括宗教的重要性和参加宗教仪式的情况。残疾指标由 ADL 和 IADL 定义。模型控制了社会人口统计学和健康相关的协变量。
参加宗教仪式与生存和健康预期有很强且一致的关联。每周至少参加一次宗教仪式的男性和女性（与那些参加较少或从不参加的人相比），总 LE 延长了 1.1 到 5.1 年，ADL 无残疾 LE 延长了 1.0 到 4.3 年。IADL 残疾的发现结果类似。宗教的重要性与总生存和残疾生存预期（包括 ADL 和 IADL）有关，但差异较小且不太一致。控制社会人口统计学和健康因素并不能解释这些关联。
通过估计总生存、无残疾生存和残疾生存预期，我们能够量化宗教对健康的优势。结果与之前分别关注健康和死亡率的研究一致。
