Abstract
Most clinical studies examining the relation between religion and
blood pressure status have focused on church attendance, finding
lower pressures among frequent attenders. The present study examines the effect on blood pressure status of a religious meaning variable, importance of religion, both by itself and together with frequency of church attendance. The relation between blood pressure,
self-perceived importance of religion, and frequency of church attendance was examined among a rural sample of 407 white men free
from hypertension or cardiovascular disease. The data confirmed an
interaction between the effects of both religious variables on blood
pressure status, with importance of religion having an even greater
association with lower pressures than church attendance. Diastolic
blood pressures of persons with high church attendance and high reli-
gious importance were significantly lower than those in the low attendance, low importance group. These differences persisted after adjusting the analyses for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, and
weight-height ratio (Quetelet Index). The difference in mean diastolic pressures based on response to the religious importance variable alone was statistically and clinically significant, particularly
among men aged fifty-five and over (6 mm) and among smokers
(5 mm). These findings suggest that both religious attitudes and
involvement may interact favorably in their effects on cardiovascular
hemodynamics.