Relationships between Religiosity and Delayed Healthcare Seeking among American Muslims

Background: Patient delays in seeking healthcare are associated with longer hospitalization and poorer health outcomes. Insights into these delays are crucial; however, few studies have explored how religion influences patients’ decisions to seek or delay healthcare. The limited literature suggests that fatalism and modesty concerns may impact health-seeking behaviors. Our study assesses associations between these and other religion-related measures and decisions to delay seeking care among American Muslim women.

Methods: We administered surveys to Muslim women attending mosque and community events in Chicago. Our survey incorporates measures of religious coping, fatalism, religiosity, perceived discrimination, usage of alternative medicine, and Islamic modesty. The primary outcome measure asked women whether they ever delayed seeking healthcare when no female providers were available.

Results: 254 women completed the survey with nearly equal numbers of African-Americans (25.8%), Arab-Americans (33.0%), and South-Asians (33.5%). The median age was 50. Fifty-four percent reported delayed healthcare seeking when a gender-concordant provider was unavailable. In multivariate analysis adjusting for socio-demographic factors, higher religiosity (OR=7.3,p<0.01) and modesty levels (OR=1.4,p<0.001) were positively associated with reporting delayed healthcare seeking when a gender-concordant provider was unavailable. Having lived in the U.S. for >20 years (OR=0.16,p<0.01) was negatively related to delayed healthcare seeking.

Conclusion: Many respondents reported delayed healthcare seeking due to the unavailability of gender-concordant providers. More religious women and those with higher levels of modesty delayed care-seeking more frequently. Our research highlights the need for gender-concordant providers and culturally sensitive care for American Muslims, and has implications for policy on reducing health disparities.