A New Orleans medical investigator reports that health records among thousands of Roman Catholic nuns indicate they live an average of six years longer than American women generally, and as a rule contract cancer and heart ailments much later in life.
Dr. James T. Nix said figures from a nationwide survey
of virtually all American nuns reveals them dying less frequently from lung cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and peptic ulcers.
On the other hand, he told the sixth annual seminar for science writers sponsored by the American Cancer Society at Palm Beach Shores, Fla., other forms of malignancy possibly connected with their celibrate lives cause a higher death rate among the nuns.
THE SURVEY embraced the death causes of 575 nuns dying last year. With the approval of the Roman Catholic Church, investigators covered 116,173 nuns in 262 religious communities — a large proportion of the nation's 180,-000 sisters.
Dr. Nix said the study was undertaken to gauge the effect of job habits and environ-
■/ ment on disease.
I "Community rules are believed to play a part in the frequency of malignancies in nuns," he told the science writers.
"CATHOLIC religious orders for women embrace the life of celibacy; cigarette smoking is prohibited to members and alcohol consumption is limited to very special occasions."
He said chastity and celibacy probably account for the infrequency of cancer of the cervix among nuns. Yet nuns frequently develop uterine cancer, and cancer of the ovaries and breast. A life without pregnancy and nursing infants might explain the higher incidence of breast cancer, he said.
The near-teetotaling habits of the sisters apparently explains the rarity of cirrhosis. The survey, in fact, disclosed no cirrhosis deaths, in sharp contrast to the record of other Americans.
A COMMUNITY rule barring s m o k i n g probably dropped the rate of bleeding and perforating peptic ulcers, too, he said. "Undoubtedly the restrictions of religious life affect the incidence of cancer and other diseases in the group in many hitherto unrecognized ways."
When jt struck, cancer hit mainly the older unus, with the average age of tumor incidence being 67 years. There were just six lung-cancer deaths, but 43 nuns died of breast cancer—the highest single cause and mostly striking the elderly.
All told, 58 sisters died of
cancer of the digestive organs. Of all deaths, heart and circulatory disease accounted for 46 per cent and cancer for 25 per cent.
STATISTICIANS are contemplating a continuing study of the nuns and a similar survey of men living in protected religious communities.
Dr. Nix said it was felt, that "comparison with known data on the cause of death of lay women over 20 years of age in the United States will clarify the relationship of celibacy, Abstinence from alcohol and cigarette smoking, and other environmental factors to the type of cancer causing death in women." PHOTO: DR. JAMES T NIX
