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Spirituality and Religious Practices and Its Association with Geriatric Syndromes in Older Adults Attending to a Geriatric’s Clinic in a University Hospital

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Abstract

Demographic aging has led to an increase in the prevalence of different diseases, including the so-called geriatric syndromes (GS), like depression, disability and frailty phenotype (FP). Spirituality and religious practices (RP) have been associated with positive health outcomes and could be a protective factor against the development of some GS. Study aims was to determine the frequency of spirituality and RP, and their associations between some GS in adults 60 years of age or older, who attended a geriatric clinic in a university hospital in Mexico. Cross-sectional study in adults aged ≥ 60 years, recruited in 2018, was performed. Participants underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment, with which spirituality and religious practices model and the diagnosis of GS were obtained. Linear regression analyses were determined to establish the association between RP and GS. We included 128 subjects; mean age was 79 years (SD ± 8). Lowers scores for mass and communion assiduity were associated with worst disability and FP scores (b = − 0.35, P = 0.02; b = − 0.37, P = 0.03). The RP model explained 8% (R2 = 0.083) of the total variance of the depressive symptoms score (P = 0.03). This study showed that the prevalence of RP is higher in Mexican older adults. The RP model can explain 8 and 9% of the variation in dependent variables (depressive symptoms and disability). These results suggest the importance of monitoring RP, as they seem to have a positive impact on health status of the elderly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Villa Plata, Geriatric Day Care center, Guadalajara, Mexico

    Ana Karla Avelar-González

  2. Hospital General de Occidente, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

    Michel Bureau-Chávez & Julio Alberto Díaz-Ramos

  3. High Specialty Geriatric Care Unit, Fray Antonio Alcalde Civil Hospital, Guadalajara, Mexico

    Dafne Durón-Reyes, David Leal-Mora & Julio Alberto Díaz-Ramos

  4. School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tec de Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico

    Martha Ivón Mondragón-Cervantes, Yenesis del Carmen Jiménez-Acosta & Julio Alberto Díaz-Ramos

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  1. Ana Karla Avelar-González
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  2. Michel Bureau-Chávez
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  3. Dafne Durón-Reyes
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  4. Martha Ivón Mondragón-Cervantes
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  6. David Leal-Mora
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  7. Julio Alberto Díaz-Ramos
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Correspondence to Julio Alberto Díaz-Ramos.

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Ethical Approval

The Hospital Ethic Committee reviewed and approved the study protocol. This research was carried out in accordance with the ethical principles adopted in the Declaration of Helsinki for medical research in human beings (World Medical Association, 2013). In all cases, the informed consent of the study participants was obtained and in writing by the subject.

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Avelar-González, A.K., Bureau-Chávez, M., Durón-Reyes, D. et al. Spirituality and Religious Practices and Its Association with Geriatric Syndromes in Older Adults Attending to a Geriatric’s Clinic in a University Hospital. J Relig Health 59, 2794–2806 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-00990-0

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