Diverse Faith Influence on Complications and Hospital Stay of Cardiac Patients

Large sample population studies indicate that religiousness/spirituality (RS) may protect health and well-being, especially for those who are at risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, more clinical research is needed for patients with CVD, given that illness may restrict their capacity to attend a place of worship and leave them to depend more on private RS. This interdisciplinary study examines the multifaceted effects of faith factors on postoperative complications (PC) and hospital length of stay (LOS) of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). As the first attempt to link spiritual effects in aesthetic, naturalistic, and sociomoral contexts with CABG, we examined the sense of reverence in religious and secular contexts, along with traditional RS measures.

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 177 patients two weeks before surgery. Standardized medical variables were received from a computerized national dataset. Results reveal that prayer frequencies were associated with reduced postoperative complications but not with hospital length of stay. Controlling for PC reduced the initial influence of reverence on LOS, indicating the mediation of PC in this effect of reverence. PC was also associated with the number of diseased arteries and perfusion time. Female gender, comorbidity, low left ventricular ejection fraction, and longer perfusion time predicted longer LOS. The findings suggest both a conventional RS factor and a new affect measure of spiritual seeking may had a similar influence on CABG outcomes. Faith effects on health are complex, and future research needs to address the diverse faith-health association.