Re: Please Help with Diagnosis

From: Steve Harris sbharris_at_ROMAN9.netcom.com (sbharris_at_ix.netcom.com)
Date: 08/09/04 

Date: 9 Aug 2004 12:40:02 -0700

nospam5@heartmdphd.com (Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD) wrote in message news:<9fcab6f7.0408081912.3e35eb38@posting.google.com>...
> sbharris@ix.netcom.com (Steve Harris sbharris@ROMAN9.netcom.com) wrote in message news:<79cf0a8.0408072043.1a22271a@posting.google.com>...
> > nospam5@heartmdphd.com (Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD) wrote in message news:<9fcab6f7.0408071045.5e5be8d@posting.google.com>...
> > > There is evidence the prayer by others for someone who is ill improves
> > > clinical outcomes even if the patient is unaware that others are
> > > praying for them.
> >
> >
> > Cite please.
>
> Here's a few to chew on:
>
> http://makeashorterlink.com/?R29F31009

COMMENT:

Obviously you forgot to read the Cochrane meta-analysis of such trials
included in your link:

 Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD000368.

Intercessory prayer for the alleviation of ill health.

Roberts L, Ahmed I, Hall S.

Westcott House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge, UK, CB5 8BP. lr226@cam.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: Prayer is an ancient and widely used intervention for
alleviating
illness and promoting good health. This review focuses specifically on
intercessory prayer, which is organised, regular and committed, and
those who
practise it will almost inevitably hold some committed belief that
they are
praying to God. Whilst the outcomes of trials of prayer cannot be
interpreted as
'proof/disproof' of God's response to those praying, there may be an
effect of
prayer not dependent on divine intervention. This may be quantifiable,
making
this investigation of a most widely used health care intervention both
possible
and important. OBJECTIVES: To review the effectiveness of prayer as an
additional intervention for those with health problems already
receiving
standard medical care. SEARCH STRATEGY: ATLA (1949-1997), Biological
Abstracts
(1985-1999), CINAHL (1982-1999), The Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's
Register
(December 1999), CCTR of the Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 1999), EMBASE
(1980-1999), MEDLINE (1966-1999) and Psy*** (1887-1999), Sociofile
(1974-1996)
and Sociological Abstracts (1963-1999) were methodically searched. All
references of articles selected were searched for further relevant
trials.
SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised trials of personal, focused, committed
and
organised intercessory prayer on behalf of anyone with a health
problem were
considered. Outcomes such as achievement of desired goals, death,
illness,
quality of life and well-being for the recipients of prayer, those
praying and
the care-givers were sought. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Studies
were reliably
selected and assessed for methodological quality. Data were extracted
by two
reviewers working independently. Dichotomous data were analysed on an
intention-to-treat basis. MAIN RESULTS: There was no evidence that
prayer
affected the numbers of people dying from leukaemia or heart disease
(OR 1.11,
CI 0.79-1.56, n=1424). Intercessory prayer did not clearly decrease
the odds of
people with heart problems experiencing a bad or intermediate outcome
(OR 0.8,
CI 0.64-1.00, n=1444) but this finding was moved towards the null by
inclusion
of a negative assumption for those who were dropped from the analysis
in one
study. Prayer increased the odds of readmission to the Coronary Care
Unit (OR
1.54 CI 1.02-2.33, n=1406) but these results are made significantly
negative by
the inclusion of an assumption of poor outcome for those not accounted
for in
the final analyses. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Data in this review are
too
inconclusive to guide those wishing to uphold or refute the effect of
intercessory prayer on health care outcomes. In the light of the best
available
data, there are no grounds to change current practices. There are few
completed
trials of the value of intercessory prayer, and the evidence presented
so far is
interesting enough to justify further study. If prayer is seen as a
human
endeavour it may or may not be beneficial, and further trials could
uncover
this. It could be the case that any effects are due to elements beyond
present
scientific understanding that will, in time, be understood. If any
benefit
derives from God's response to prayer it may be beyond any such trials
to prove
or disprove.

Publication Types:
    Review
    Review, Academic

PMID: 10796350 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

It is a shame you don't really believe in evidence-based medicine, but
some of us do.

SBH

Quantcast