By Reuters
August 10, 2015 | 12:05pm
Cancer patients who report more religiousness or spirituality may also experience fewer physical symptoms of cancer and treatment and more social connection, several new papers suggest.
The new analyses reviewed previous studies of spirituality involving more than 44,000 cancer patients altogether. The studies varied in many ways, but religion and spirituality were associated with better health regardless of specific religion or set of spiritual beliefs.
Some previous research has found this connection while others have not, said Heather Jim of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, who led one of the new studies.
“Patients should not be pressured into adopting religious or spiritual beliefs,” Jim said. “Although our data suggest that patients with greater religion/spirituality tend to have better perceived physical health, these are aggregate-level data.”
“Patients who are not religious or spiritual can also experience good health outcomes,” she said.
These studies relied on patients to report on their health, so they did not address objective cancer outcomes, she told Reuters Health by email.
A study says? I could have told them this for free. It’s no difference from buying a lottery ticket and waiting for the results. During that time, you feel better. Same concept.