Patients in the coronary care unit who received remote, intercessory prayer had fewer overall adverse events, but did not have shorter hospital stays
QUESTION: Among patients admitted to a coronary care unit (CCU), does remote, intercessory prayer (praying for others) reduce complications and length of hospital stay?
Design
Randomised (allocation concealed), blinded (patients, clinicians, and outcome assessors), controlled trial.
Setting
A CCU in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Patients
1013 patients admitted to the CCU over a 12 month period. Patients admitted for work up before transplantation were excluded. Follow up was 98% (23 patients were excluded after randomisation because they were admitted for <1 day).
Intervention
484 patients were allocated to intercessory prayer. A total of 75 intercessors were recruited from the community; all intercessors had to agree with the following statements: “I believe in God. I believe that He is personal and is concerned with individual lives. I further believe that He is responsive to prayers for healing made on behalf of the sick.” For each patient, a team of 5 intercessors, who received no information other than the first name of the patient, was asked to pray daily for the next 28 days for “a …
