Religious variables are infrequently reported in clinical research.

BACKGROUND: More than 200 published studies have found some relationship between an individual's religion and health, yet reference to religious variables rarely appears in published empirical studies. METHODS: We performed a manual search of all articles reporting on human subjects in the 1989 issues of seven major medical journals to record and analyze religious and other demographic variables. RESULTS: Only 12 of the 1,066 articles (1.1%) mentioned religion, and eight of these mentioned only denominational affiliation. CONCLUSION: Most clinical investigators do not report on the religious variables of their subjects and thus may be missing important correlations.