Table 3.
Associations of Physician Intrinsic Religiosity, Religious Affiliation, and Influence of Religion on Medicine With Objections to End of Life Interventionsa
| Physician-Assisted suicide |
Terminal Sedation |
Withdrawal of Life Support |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bivariate |
Multivariate |
Bivariate |
Multivariate |
Bivariate |
Multivariate |
|
| Predictor | % | OR (95% CI) | % | OR (95% CI) | % | OR (95% CI) |
| All physicians | 69 | 18 | 5 | |||
| Intrinsic religiosity | ||||||
| Low | 55 | 1.0 (referent) | 12 | 1.0 (referent) | 4 | 1.0 (referent) |
| Moderate | 71b | 1.9 (1.3–2.8) | 18b | 1.6 (1.0–2.7) | 4 ns | 0.9 (0.3–2.5) |
| High | 84 | 4.2 (2.9–6.2) | 25 | 2.6 (1.7–4.1) | 7 | 2.0 (0.9–4.7) |
| Religious affiliation | ||||||
| Protestant | 75 | 1.0 (referent) | 19 | 1.0 (referent) | 3 | 1.0 (referent) |
| Catholic | 79 | 1.2 (0.8–1.9) | 22 | 1.5 (0.9–2.3) | 10 | 2.8 (1.2–6.6) |
| Jewish | 50 | 0.3 (0.2–0.5) | 4 | 0.2 (0.1–0.5) | 3 | 0.8 (0.3–2.8) |
| Hindu | 74b | 0.9 (0.4–1.9) | 43b | 3.7 (1.8–7.6) | 9c | 2.1 (0.6–7.4) |
| Muslim | 79 | 1.1 (0.4–3.1) | 18 | 1.1 (0.4–3.0) | 8 | 3.4 (0.5–22.2) |
| Other religion | 81 | 1.5 (0.8–3.0) | 25 | 1.5 (0.8–3.1) | 5 | 2.5 (0.6–10.2) |
| None | 39 | 0.2 (0.1–0.4) | 6 | 0.3 (0.1–0.8) | 3 | 0.9 (0.2–3.8) |
| Religion influences medicine | ||||||
| Disagree | 58b | 1.0 (referent) | 13d | 1.0 (referent) | 4 ns | 1.0 (referent) |
| Agree | 78 | 2.7 (2.0–3.7) | 21 | 1.8 (1.2–2.6) | 6 | 2.0 (1.0–4.1) |
NOTE: OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; ns = not significant.
a
Bivariate results present estimated (accounting for survey design) percentages of physicians who object to the intervention. Multivariate results present estimated OR with 95% CI after adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity (not included in analyses of religious affiliation), region, and care of dying.
b
P < .001.
c
P < .05.
d
P < .01.