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Observational Study
. 2025 Feb;64(1):672-684.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02120-6. Epub 2024 Sep 10.

Religiosity and Health Outcomes in a Cohort of Romanian Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19

Stefan Frent  1 , Alexandru-Filip Popovici  2 , Adrian Balan  3 , Bianca Cerbu  4 , Iosif Marincu  4 , Stefan Mihaicuta  1 , Andras Bikov  5   6
Affiliations
Observational Study

Religiosity and Health Outcomes in a Cohort of Romanian Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19

Stefan Frent et al. J Relig Health. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

There is a growing body of evidence for the interrelation between health status and religious beliefs. Our aim was to evaluate the level of religiosity in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and to assess the link between religiosity and measurable health outcomes. This was an observational, single-center study which included patients with moderate-to-severe forms of COVID-19. A total of 112 patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 77 were highly religious (CRS-15 score ≥ 4) and 35 non-highly religious (CRS-15 score < 4). There was no difference in demographics or prevalence of comorbidities between the two groups. Furthermore, we found no difference between groups in radiological extension of lung lesions, length of hospital stays, or ICU need; however, in-hospital mortality rate was significantly lower in highly religious group (1% vs. 14%, p = 0.005). Serum ferritin level at admission was significantly lower (p = 0.03) and prevalence of post-COVID-19 pulmonary sequelae significantly higher in highly religious group (p = 0.02).

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospitalization; Mortality; Religiosity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Ethics Approval: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of “Victor Babes” Infectious Diseases and Pulmonology Clinical Hospital Timisoara, Romania (11827/2021). This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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