At 01:06 PM 2/19/99 -0600, you wrote:
>>Article about how the studies linking religousness with health may be
flawed:
>>Your web link did not lead me to an article. But I would like to see the
>article is you have a link that works.
Sorry about that, since it is through My Yahoo! I guess it doesn't work as
a direct link. I copied the article and pasted into this email below.
Erica Klein [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Friday February 19 12:27 PM ET
Studies linking faith, healing may be flawed
NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters Health) -- A number of recent studies have
supported the notion that deep religious faith boosts healing. But a team
of investigators contend that a close review of this research suggests that
much of it is seriously flawed.
``Even in the best studies, the evidence of an association between
religion, spirituality, and health is weak and inconsistent,'' conclude Dr.
Richard Sloan and colleagues at Columbia University in New York City. Their
review appears in the February 20th issue of the British journal The Lancet.
The increasing popularity of fundamentalist Christianity, New Age beliefs,
and alternative medicine has led to a recent renewed interest in possible
links between spirituality and the healing process. Indeed, numerous
studies have proposed just such a link.
But how reliable are these studies? In their article, the team point out
that the underlying methodology of many of these efforts leaves them
vulnerable to mistaken interpretation.
For example, a number of studies have reported that devotees of various
religions -- Catholic priests and nuns, Trappist monks, and Mormon priests
-- have lower illness and mortality rates than the general population. But
Sloan and his colleagues point out that all of these groups ``are inclined
to codes of conduct that proscribe behaviors associated with risk'' such as
drinking, smoking, sexual activity, and psychosocial stress. Avoidance of
these risks may influence their overall health to a much greater extent
than simple religious belief, the team suggest.
Another widely-reported study found that regular churchgoers had lower
risks of illness and death over a given time than individuals who did not
attend church. However, the New York researchers note that the study
omitted one important consideration -- the fact that ill-health may prevent
many individuals from attending church in the first place.
In addition, many studies have come to conflicting conclusions when it
comes to the link between faith and health. For example, one 1992 study
found that ``neither church attendance nor religious involvement was
associated with lower mortality,'' according to the Columbia team.
Conversely, in two other studies, ``church attendance was associated with
lower attendance, but only in women,'' they say.
So what is the role of religious faith in the healing process? The Columbia
University team believe that doctors should remain cautious when
'recommending' faith as a possible aid to physical recovery. ``Linking
religious activities and better health can be harmful to patients,'' they
explain, ``who already must confront age-old folk wisdom that illness is
due to their own moral failure.''
But the team acknowledge that faith can help patients deal with illness.
Although a scientific link between faith and healing remains unproved,
``respectful attention must be paid to the impact of religion on the
patient's decisions about health care,'' they conclude.
SOURCE: The Lancet 1999;353:664-667.
