Enhancing Immune Function

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Carson, V.B. (1993).  Prayer, meditation, exercise, and special diets: Behaviors of the hardy person with HIV/AIDS.  Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 4(3), 18-28.  Investigators studied 100 subjects who were either HIV positive or had AIDS.  A Personal Views Survey developed by Kobasa was used to determine "hardiness" (related to longer survival in this population).  Level of spirituality was measured by responses to questions concerning participation in prayer, meditation, use of imagery or visualization, reading religious literature, spiritual retreats, and church services.  A single item examined the frequency of prayer.  Spirituality (total score) was significantly related to greater hardiness when individual items were examined.  Hardiness is seen as an indirect measure of immune system functioning.

Woods, T.E., Antoni, M.H., Ironson, G.H., & Kling, D.W. (1998).  Religiosity is associated with affective and immune status in symptomatic HIV-infected gay men.  Journal of Psychosomatic Research, in press.  These investigators examined in the association between religious beliefs and behaviors and immune functioning in 106 HIV seropositive gay men.  Religious activities - prayer or meditation, religious attendance, spiritual discussions, reading religious/spiritual literature - were associated with significantly higher CD4+ counts and CD4+ percentages (T-helper-induced cells) (controlling for self efficacy and active coping with health situation, using regression modeling). The effects of religious behaviors on immune function was not confounded by disease progression (i.e., as disease worsened and immune function decreased, persons unable to participate in religious activity).

Koenig, H.G., Cohen, H.J., George, L.K., Hays, J.C., Larson, D.B., Blazer, D.G. (1997).  Attendance at religious services, interleukin-6, and other biological indicators of immune function in older adults.  International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 27: 233-250.  First study to examine the relationship between religious activities and immune system functioning.  Investigators found that frequent religious attendance (reflecting religious belief) in 1986 , 1989, and 1992 predicted lower plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in a sample of 1,718 older adults followed over six years.  IL-6 levels are elevated in patients with AIDS, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, lymphoma and other cancers.  High levels of IL-6 indicate a weakened immune system.  Findings suggest that persons who attend church frequently have stronger immune systems (lower levels of IL-6) than less frequent attendees, and may help explain why better physical health is characteristic of frequent church attendees. 

Woods, T.E., Antoni, M.H., Ironson, G.H., & Kling, D.W. (1998).  Religiosity is associated with affective and immune status in symptomatic HIV-infected gay men.  Journal of Psychosomatic Research, in press.  (noted earlier) Study of 106 HIV seropositive gay men; religious activities - prayer or meditation, religious attendance, spiritual discussions, reading religious/spiritual literature (indicators of religious belief) - were associated with significantly higher CD4+ counts and CD4+ percentages (T-helper cells) controlling for self-efficacy and active coping with health situation, using regression modeling.

Extending Overall Survival

Strawbridge, W.J., Cohen, R.D., Shema, S.J., & Kaplan, G.A. (1997).  Frequent attendance at religious services and mortality over 28 years.  American Journal of Public Health, 87: 957-961.  Major study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley reporting results of a 28-year follow-up of 5,000 adults involved in the Berkeley Human Population Laboratory.  Mortality for persons attending religious services once/week or more often (reflecting religious belief) was almost 25% lower than for persons attending religious services less frequently: for women, the mortality rate was reduced by 35%.  Frequent attendees were more likely to stop smoking, increase exercising, increase social contacts, and stay  married; even after these factors were controlled for, the mortality difference persisted.

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