Religião e saúde: Estudo Pró-Saúde.

Abstract

This thesis aimed to enrich the field of religious transit investigating the association of religion with people's health and their living habits especially smoking. The thesis was divided into two parts: the first aims to identify the association between self-perceived health, religion and religious transit. The second, between religion, religious transit and smoking. So cross-sectional data were taken from the "Estudo Pró-Saúde" conducted in Rio de Janeiro-RJ in 1999. Religions were categorized according to the criteria of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) and the religious transit arose from the comparison between religion of creation and reported religion 1999. Results showed that 62% of participants remained in the religion of creation, 26% changed their religion and 12% changed to "no religion". Religious transit was marked by an increase of Kardecists and «without religion» group. People who realized their health as fair or poor had 40% more chances of having changed their religion when compared to those who perceived themselves as having good or very good health (Article 1). Most religions were negatively associated with smoking when compared to people without religion adjusted for socio-demaographic variables, related to health and common mental impairment. Pentecostals and historical Protestants had higher inverse association with smoking, and only the African-Brazilian religion presented 40% higher chance of being a ex-smoker, qhen compared to those who did not change religion (Article 2 ). To clarify the associations observed in this thesis, it is necessary to carry out further studies with the use of other methodologies, especially with longitudinal design.