Religion and Tobacco Policy: Morbidity and Mortality in 19th and 20th Century Utah

• In Event: 41069 - Religion, Health, and Well-Being

Abstract

Fertility, reproduction, and mortality are of primary interest to both public health and religion. Although both institutions maintain beliefs and practices surrounding these events, religious identity may offer a unique advantage to embed health habits into a population’s behavior. We examine positive health trends among Utah members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that align with the 1921 religious tobacco abstention policy, according to their religious participation. Utilizing the Utah Population Database, the evidence suggests that the faith’s policy was most efficient in stymieing the growing use of tobacco among active Latter-day Saint who were youth in 1921, compared to those who were either later aged or not active participators. Among males, active Latter-day Saints born after 1900 only see a 16% increase of tobacco related mortality risk compared to early cohorts (Hazard Risk Ratio [HRR] = 1.156 [95% CI: 1.031 – 1.295]), whereas inactive Latter-day Saint males demonstrate a 141% increase of risk (HRR= 2.409 [95% CI: 2.051 – 2.829]). Additionally, active Latter-day Saint males and females born after 1900 (and exposed to the policy change before adulthood) manifest less risk for tobacco-related deaths (Female HRR= 0.327 [95% CI: 0.283 – 0.379] Male HRR= 0.259 [95% CI: 0.237 – 0.283]) compared to their inactive Latter-day Saint peers. Similar differences do not replicate to non-tobacco related cancers diagnoses. Although questions of selection and unknown confounders provide causal limitations, these findings suggest that policies embedded within religious identities can alter the health trajectories of populations.

Authors

• Jason Paul Bonham, University of Chicago

• Ken R. Smith, University of Utah

• Tim Bruckner, University of Utah