Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

Chapter 9 /Prayer and CVD 141
that healing prayer was associated with some degree of therapeutic benefit.
The conclusion that these findings supported was that more and
better designs of prayer studies were indicated based on the literature
available to date.
PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED TRIALS
OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER IN CARDIOLOGY
Only four prospective randomized, controlled clinical trials of intercessory
prayer have been reported in cardiology populations (10–13).
Two additional multicenter prospective randomized trials have completed
enrollment of patients after bypass surgery and in patients
underoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Neither of these studies
has yet been reported.
The first reported study investigated the role of distant prayer in the
coronary care unit (CCU) and was published in 1988 (10). In this study,
all patients admitted to the CCU of San Francisco General Hospital were
approached to enter the study. Patients who consented (393 of 450
approached) were randomized to receive standard care or standard care
plus intercessory prayer. Each patient in the intervention group was
prayed for by three to seven intercessors, who were all “born-again
Christians (according to the Gospel of John 3:3).” The intercessors were
told the patient’s first name, general condition, diagnosis, and updates on
their condition. The intercessors prayed daily for the patients until they
were discharged from the hospital. Multiple clinical outcomes were measured,
and each patient’s hospital course was graded as “good,” “intermediate,”
or “bad,” depending on morbidity. This was done in a blinded
fashion regarding patient group assignment.
Of the patients receiving prayer, 85% had a “good” hospital course,
as compared to 73% in the control group. Fourteen percent of the prayer
treatment group had a “bad” hospital course, as compared to 22% of the
control group. These comparisons reached statistical significance with
a p value of