Beating the Odds: Prayer

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Reported February 10, 2006

Beating the Odds: Prayer (Part 3 of 3)

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=13070

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Research shows more than half

of Americans pray for their health. But the age-old debate over religion

and science rages on in the medical world. Should we be spending money

on clinical trials that involve prayer?

Prayer can liven up a room or quiet an entire congregation. But can it

save lives?

Duke cardiologist W. Krucoff, M.D., says it's worth studying to

find out. In one of the first clinical trials of its kind, he and

colleagues are looking at whether distant prayer -- prayer from people

you don't even know -- can help patients recover quicker after a heart

procedure.

" Prayer, healing touch, compassion, love. These are things that we do

all the time in millions of human being and literally have for thousands

of years, " Dr. Krucoff, of Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham,

N.C., tells Ivanhoe.

In the pilot study, which is still ongoing, patients who were prayed for

had up to a 30-percent reduction in adverse outcomes. But more recent

results show prayer did not affect patient outcomes. Despite these

conflicting results, Dr. Krucoff says distant prayer should still be

studied. " We consider this a potentially very unique area of therapeutic

advance, " he says.

But some -- like Psychiatrist Barrett, M.D., of town,

Pennsylvania -- disagree. " There's no point in studying prayer, " he

says. " It doesn't work. End of story. " He and others say distant prayer

studies are a waste of time and money because the effect of prayer can't

easily be measured.

" What these studies are actually designed to do is not so much test

prayer as test God, and that's why they're double-blinded, so that

patients have no knowledge of whether they're being prayed for or not, "

Cerullo, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at University

of Cincinnati, tells Ivanhoe.

But Dr. Cerullo says not all prayer studies should be dismissed. " There

are studies about positive effects of spirituality and prayer and a

person's religious background and their health, " he says.

In fact, studies from Duke, Dartmouth and Yale reveal just going to

church can help. Patients who don't attend church stay in the hospital

three-times longer, heart patients are 14-times more likely to die

following surgery, and elderly people have double the rate of stroke.

Doris Redfern believes her faith and others' prayers helped her recover

from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Doctors gave her three months to live.

That was three years ago! After her diagnosis, Redfern's church sent out

prayer requests to others around the country.

" I started getting these cards, you know, just coming in by the dozens,

and the mailman's bringing them, and he said, 'I want you to know my

family is praying for you every day,' and you know it just works, "

Redfern says. She believes prayer made her medical treatment work even

when her doctor said nothing would. " I never thought that I would be

around to see my first great-grandchild! "

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by

e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to:

http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

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