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Religion, Spirituality, and Cardiovascular Disease

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Handbook of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine

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Abstract

Many people believe religiousness and spirituality (R/S) are related to cardiovascular (CV) functioning. R/S have often been treated as an undifferentiated construct, but recent research defines spirituality more broadly than religiousness with spirituality being more closely associated with personal, non-institutional experiences. There remains, however, significant conceptual overlap with both addressing aspects of the sacred. Early studies of denominational differences established beneficial CV effects for behaviorally strict groups. Epidemiological investigations of the general population typically relied on religious service attendance to measure R/S and demonstrated advantages for regular attendees for both CV mortality and morbidity. These findings were not completely accounted for by behavioral practices. Studies of cardiac patients and those undergoing cardiac surgery more often used multidimensional measures, and results are correspondingly more complex suggesting that though dimensions or facets of R/S are often associated with better outcomes, this is not always the case and some dimensions may reliably predict worse results. Several mechanisms may operate in the relationships between R/S and CV outcomes including social support, behavioral lifestyles, and psychological functioning influenced by characteristics of R/S.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Kevin S. Masters

Authors
  1. Kevin S. Masters
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Correspondence to Kevin S. Masters .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Shari R. Waldstein

  2. Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Willem J. Kop

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Edward C. Suarez

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    William R. Lovallo

  5. Division of Gerontology Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Leslie I. Katzel

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Masters, K.S. (2022). Religion, Spirituality, and Cardiovascular Disease. In: Waldstein, S.R., Kop, W.J., Suarez, E.C., Lovallo, W.R., Katzel, L.I. (eds) Handbook of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85960-6_27

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