Religion as a cultural phenomenon, and national mortality rates from heart disease.

An hypothesis is developed which proposes that mortality rates from heart disease are a function of a nation's dominant religious tradition, with predominantly Catholic countries having lower rates than the more Protestant countries. The hypothesis was tested on data from 24 economically developed Western countries. A significant inverse relationship of -0.588 was found between the proportion of Catholics in the 24 nations and mortality rates from heart disease, which supports the hypothesis.