Numerous media reports have been made on the findings from a recently published study in JAMA Internal Medicine by Drs. Shanshan Li, Meir Stampfer, David Williams, and Tyler VanderWeele entitled "Association of Religious Service Attendance with Mortality Among Women."
The study, conducted through The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that women who attended religious services more than once per week were 33% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended. Additionally, women who frequently attended religious services had significantly lower risk of cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality.
“Our results suggest that there may be something important about religious service attendance beyond solitary spirituality,” stated Tyler VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology at Harvard Chan School. “Part of the benefit seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life."
The data maintains its significance even after eliminating reverse causation in the statistical analysis, which might otherwise suggest that the findings are a result of healthy people attending church more often than those who are unhealthy. "This suggests that there is something powerful about the communal experience," says VanderWeele. "These are systems of thought and practice shaped over millennia, and they are powerful.”
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Read the original article from Jama Internal Medicine "Association of Religious Service Attendance With Mortality Among Women"