Religious Service Attendance, Religious Coping, and Risk of Hypertension in Women Participating in the Nurses' Health Study II

The association between religious service attendance, religious coping, and hypertension is unclear. Prospective research and assessment of potential mediators is needed to understand this relationship. From 2001-2013, we prospectively followed 44,281 nonhypertensive women who provided information on religious service attendance and religious coping in the Nurses' Health Study II. Cox regression and mediation analyses were conducted to assess associations between religion and hypertension. There were 453,706 person-years of follow-up and 11,773 incident hypertension cases. Women who attended religious services were less likely to develop hypertension. In the fully adjusting model, compared with women who never or almost never attend religious meetings or services, women attending less than once per month (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.91, 1.03), 1-3 times per month (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.88, 1.00), once per week (HR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88, 0.98), or more than once per week (HR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.97) showed a decreased risk of hypertension (P for trend = 0.001). Body mass index was an important mediator (11.5%; P < 0.001). Religious coping had a marginal association with hypertension. In conclusion, religious service attendance was modestly associated with hypertension in an inverse dose-response manner and partially mediated through body mass index. Future research is needed on biological or social reasons for the lower risk of hypertension.