Religion, spirituality and belief: key points

• Religion and belief can have both positive and negative associations with health.
• Some attitudes and practices may have an unequal impact upon access to public services for religious groups. This requires service providers to adapt their procedures and address staff attitudes and knowledge.
• There are associations between religion and ethnicity, and analyses of the effects of religion may need to adjust for ethnicity.
• There is evidence that some health behaviours vary by religious group. For example, adults reporting their religion as Muslim or Other Christian were least likely to smoke, while those identifying as Roman Catholic or as having no religion were most likely to smoke (Scottish Health Survey Topic Report on Equality Groups (2012).
• There is some evidence that mortality rates vary by religious group. Those reporting their religion as Roman Catholic or as having no religion tended to have the highest mortality rates. People reporting their religion as Other Christian and Other religion had lower rates (Millard et al (2015).