Western Buddhists' religious and health beliefs and practices

Western Buddhism has been of growing interest to scholars in the U.S. but most studies have been historical narrative accounts with few quantitative studies of Buddhists' religious practices and beliefs. No epidemiological studies of Buddhists' health have been published. A web survey of Buddhist religious practices and beliefs, medical history and health practices was conducted with 886 Buddhist respondents. Eighty-two percent of respondents were residents of the U.S.A. Eighty-six percent were converts to Buddhism and had been a Buddhist for a median of 9 years. Ninety-nine percent practiced Buddhist meditation and 70% had attended a formal retreat for intensive meditation practice. Sixty-eight percent of respondents rated their health as very good or excellent and 13% smoked cigarettes. Logistic regression analysis of scores on a Buddhist Devoutness Index (BDI) and health practices showed that a one point increase on the BDI was associated with a 15% increase in the odds of being a non-smoker and an 11% increase in the odds of being in good to excellent health. Survey participants were strong adherents of Buddhism, in good health and generally followed the health practices recommended by official health agencies. While study methodology limits making generalizations this study provides unique information about the health of a large sample of Western Buddhists and confirms some information found in other quantitative studies about Buddhist religious practices. Additional research is needed to further validate the BDI, and additional quantitative studies about Buddhists' health are needed, including studies in which biomedical data is collected.