An analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Study focusing on Black participants found that older adults with higher participation in religious or spiritual activities were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. Those who never attended religious services had 2.37 times higher odds of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementias than those who attended such services more than once a week. The research was published in the American Journal of Human Biology.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia. It is characterized by memory loss, cognitive decline, and adverse behavioral changes. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the accumulation of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, including beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles. These accumulations disrupt neuronal function and connectivity, ultimately leading to cell death.
Symptoms typically begin with short-term memory loss and gradually worsen to include difficulties with reasoning, language, and performing daily tasks. However, Alzheimer’s is not the only type of dementia. Other conditions can produce cognitive decline similar to Alzheimer’s disease but involve different underlying mechanisms.
These include vascular dementia, caused by reduced blood flow to the brain; Lewy body dementia, associated with abnormal protein deposits called Lewy bodies; frontotemporal dementia, which involves degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes; and mixed dementia, where multiple types coexist. The authors of this study refer to all these types of dementia as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRDs).
Studies have indicated that specific lifestyle factors might affect the risk of developing dementia. Study authors Eric E. Griffith and his colleagues sought to explore whether religious or spiritual activities, an important component of the sociocultural environment, are associated with the risk of ADRDs. They focused particularly on Black individuals, as they believed religious and spiritual activities play a significant role in the lives of Black people.
The researchers analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, a large longitudinal dataset of people over 50 years old, which includes a substantial proportion of older Black adults. The data used in their analyses came from 4,356 participants who identified as Black/African American and were 40 years old or older at the time of participation. Of these, 4% had an ADRD diagnosis at the time of the study, and 75% had hypertension. Participants’ mean age was 63 years, and 62% were female.
The study authors examined participants’ responses regarding how frequently they attended religious services, how often they prayed privately, and four additional items assessing aspects of their religious beliefs (religious salience). They also analyzed data on participants’ ADRD diagnoses, hypertension, and various demographic characteristics.
The results showed that participants who did not attend religious services at all had 2.46 times higher odds of being diagnosed with ADRD than those who attended religious services more than once a week. However, the frequency of prayer and religious salience were not associated with ADRD risk.
Additionally, participants with a hypertension diagnosis had three times higher odds of being diagnosed with ADRD compared to those without hypertension.
“Our results showed that communal R/S activity (i.e., attending R/S services) [religious/spiritual] impacted ADRD risk but private R/S (i.e., prayer and religious salience) did not have protective effects for Black people living in the United States. These findings demonstrate the importance that existing cultural networks (e.g., R/S) can have for reducing the burden of ADRD on Black people and has important implications for the role of R/S in shaping ADRD symptomatology,” the study authors concluded.
The study highlights the link between attending religious services and reduced dementia risk. However, it is important to note that attending religious services requires a person to be aware of time, able to travel to the place of worship and return home (most often independently), and to be in good cognitive and physical health to participate in the service. These capacities are often compromised in individuals suffering from dementia.
The paper, “Religious participation is associated with fewer dementia diagnoses among Black people in the United States,” was authored by Eric E. Griffith, Paul A. Robbins, Bethlehem T. Ferede, and Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards.