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ANA: Spiritual Belief Appears to Slow Progression of Alzheimer's Disease By Marvin Ross TORONTO, ON -- October 7, 2004 -- Higher levels of religiosity and private religious practices are associated with a slower progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to results of a study presented here October 5th at the American Neurological Association 129th Annual Meeting. Yakir Kaufman, MD, Fellow, Behavioural Neurology Department, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues recruited 68 patients aged 49 to 94 years, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers assessed participants' spirituality/religiosity using the 5-item Duke Religion Index. The questionnaire organized responses into three subscales -- attendance, private religious practices and intrinsic spirituality/religiosity. Other tests given to participants measured both cognition (Mini Mental State Exam [MMSE]) and quality of life (QoL). Correlations were then performed to assess the relationship between religiosity, QoL, and cognition, while controlling for the effects of relevant demographic and clinical characteristics. Results show a significant negative correlation between both spirituality and religiosity and the annual point loss in MMSE scores. However, QOL measures were not correlated with the rate of cognitive decline. Dr Kaufman concluded that higher levels of spirituality/religiosity are associated with slower progression of Alzheimer's disease and he pointed out that this is consistent with findings from previous studies. More than 1200 studies have explored the implications of religious belief for various illnesses, and many of them have shown lower morbidity and mortality associated with spiritual belief. [Presentation title: "Rate of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease: the impact of quality of life, spirituality and religiosity." Abstract 212] E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version