If religious faith can help the body fight off disease, as some believe, can loss of that faith leave one vulnerable to illness? Yes, according to researchers who found that sick patients who became pessimistic about their religious faith were associated with having a higher risk of mortality.

The investigators at Duke University found that people who held these negative views on religion had an increased risk of mortality. Feelings of doubt and anger towards one's faith are natural and normal when dealing with serious illness. But when people get stuck there it creates stress that interferes with body's ability to recover.

The investigators questioned 596 patients over the age 55 who had been hospitalized for various illnesses at Duke Hospital. The vast majority of the patients were of Christian faith.

The researchers questioned the patients about how they were using religion to cope with the stress of a medical illness. Negative religious feelings included feeling "abandoned or punished by God" or "questioning God's love." The patients were followed for up to 2 years.

The results indicate that religious struggle was associated with an increased risk of mortality. Specifically, patients who said they felt "unloved by God" and "attributed their illness to the devil" were found to have a 19% to 28% increase in the risk of dying within 2 years.

The investigators controlled for other factors that could have influenced these results, such as depression, severity of illness, gender, age and quality of life. However, the findings could be explained by other factors, such as feelings of alienation arising from religious struggle, the researchers acknowledge.

The research indicates the importance that medical professionals assess patients' religious feelings as part of providing thorough medical care.

Sick people need to have their spiritual issues assessed and addressed, otherwise it will have a negative effect.

Annals of Internal Medicine August 13/27 2001;161:1881-1885