The interest on spirituality and religion has always existed in the course of human history, despite different periods or cultures. However, only recently, science has shown interest in investigating this issue. Studies demonstrate that those aged 65 years old or more have more contact with their spirituality and religiosity. This article aims to conduct a review from scientific literature that deals with this issue and investigate the impact of spirituality on different aspects of ageing. METHODS: A search on Pubmed/Medline, LILACS and Scielo was carried out, including articles from 1966 to 2009, in English or Portuguese, using the keywords: aged/idoso e spirituality/espiritualidade. RESULTS: Forty eight articles were included and divided in: successful aging, well-being, quality of life, chronic-degenerative diseases, neuro-psychiatric diseases, functional status, mortality and end of life care. CONCLUSION: Aging has a close relationship with spirituality in many different aspects and there is a paucity of research on spirituality/religiosity in the elderly.
Spirituality; Religiousness; Geriatrics; Elderly