Department of Neurology, University Clinical Centre of the Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
Qual Life Res. 2023 Aug;32(8):2235-2246. doi: 10.1007/s11136-023-03383-4. Epub 2023 Mar 16.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor impairment leading to early death. Religiousness is one of the factors potentially alleviating the psychological burden of patients. However, its role might vary according to cultural context. Our study aimed to analyze religiosity, and its clinical, psychological and socio-demographic correlates in ALS patients and controls, comparing two European countries with different cultural backgrounds.
268 Polish and German ALS patients, including 18 with locked-in syndrome (LIS) and 198 healthy controls (HC) were interviewed about religiousness, quality of life (Qol), depression, functional status and pain. A follow-up was conducted on 71 patients.
Polish subjects had a significantly higher level of public, private and general religiosity than the German sample. Importantly, we found no difference in total and public religiousness between ALS patients and HC within either population. Only the private religiousness was significantly higher in German patients compared to controls. In the same sample, private religiousness correlated with functional impairment due to disease progression. In ALS groups and LIS patients, religiousness did not correlate with any disease-associated factors: disease duration, pain, Qol or depression. Follow-up comparisons in the ALS group revealed worsening functional status, increased depression and no significant change in religiosity.
Religiosity was linked to the cultural background rather than ALS. Generally, it did not correlate with clinical, psychological and socio-demographic parameters and was stable throughout disease progression. The only exception was the relationship between the functional decline and private religiosity among German patients.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种进行性运动障碍，导致患者早期死亡。宗教信仰是减轻患者心理负担的潜在因素之一。然而，其作用可能因文化背景而异。我们的研究旨在分析 ALS 患者和对照组的宗教信仰及其与临床、心理和社会人口学的相关性，并比较两个具有不同文化背景的欧洲国家。
对 268 名波兰和德国的 ALS 患者（包括 18 名闭锁综合征患者）和 198 名健康对照者进行访谈，了解其宗教信仰、生活质量（Qol）、抑郁、功能状态和疼痛情况。对 71 例患者进行了随访。
波兰患者的公共宗教、私人宗教和总体宗教信仰水平明显高于德国患者。重要的是，在任何一个群体中，我们都没有发现 ALS 患者与对照组之间的总宗教和公共宗教信仰存在差异。只有德国患者的私人宗教信仰明显高于对照组。在同一样本中，私人宗教信仰与疾病进展导致的功能障碍有关。在 ALS 组和 LIS 患者中，宗教信仰与任何与疾病相关的因素（疾病持续时间、疼痛、生活质量或抑郁）均无相关性。在 ALS 组的随访比较中，发现功能状态恶化、抑郁增加，而宗教信仰没有显著变化。
宗教信仰与文化背景有关，而与 ALS 无关。一般来说，它与临床、心理和社会人口学参数没有相关性，并且在疾病进展过程中保持稳定。唯一的例外是德国患者中功能下降与私人宗教信仰之间的关系。
