Effect of retroactive intercessory prayer

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7344.1037

BMJ 2002;324:1037 ( 27 April )

Letters

Effect of retroactive intercessory prayer

Cautious approach is needed

Paper proves power of statistics, not prayer

"You cannae break the laws of physics, Captain"

Hope should never be squashed by being told that things cannot happen

All randomised controlled trials require informed consent

Competing interests on religious conviction or spirituality may be important

Correspondents showed misapprehension of principle

Outcome of this experiment offers little comfort

Author's reply

Cautious approach is needed

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Leibovici used rigorous scientific method in his study to explore the role of intercessory prayer in health care.¹Using a randomised controlled trial design with a large groupof patients and selecting a range of appropriate outcome measures,he showed a significant difference in length of stay and durationof fever and concluded that prayer may be a usefultreatment.

These results, however, need to be interpreted with caution. There was no significant difference between the two groups withregard to the most clinically important outcome (mortality), andthe median values varied little between prayer and non-prayeron both length of stay (seven and eight days) and duration offever (two days each). The religious affiliation of the personsaying the prayer is not given. Many religious groups do not acceptthe power of prayer given by those with different beliefs. Ifreal, the effect of prayer shown . . . [Full text of this article]

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Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial: Leonard Leibovici
BMJ 2001 323: 1450-1451. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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