Abstract: Objective To explore the correlation between religious participation (RP) and cognitive impairment (CI) in the elderly and to provide references for the prevention and control of cognitive impairment.Methods Data for this study was derived from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey in 2002,which is a national representative dataset including 13 290 old persons aged 65 years and above and is the latest open data in China so far involving both RP and cognitive function.The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used for screening CI in the 13 290 participants.Binary logistic model was utilized to analyze the relationship between RP and CI.Results The number of participants identified as CI was 1 872 (17.4%) and 264 (10.3%) among the eldely without and with RP.There were a reverse correlation and a between urban and rural region difference in the correlation of RP with CI in the elderly surveyed.After adjusting for demographic,physical health,subjective emotion,and leisure activities variables,the odds ratio (OR) value of CI was 0.67 (95% confidence interval95%CI:0.57-0.70) for the elderly with RP compared to the elderly without RP and both rural and urban elderly with RP showed a lower risk of CI compared to the elderly living in the same regions but without RP,with the adjusted OR values of 0.62(95%CI:0.51-0.77) and 0.75(95%CI:0.58-0.96).Leisure activities demonstrated a moderating effect on the relationship between RP and CI in the participants.Conclusion Religious participation is reversely associated with cognitive impairment among older person in China.There is a difference in the association of religious participation with cognitive impairment between urban and rural elderly and the association is more close among the rural elderly.Leisure activity could mediate the correlation between religious participation and cognitive impairment among the elderly in China.