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Harris et al¹ did not evaluate or comment on what appears to be the strongest statistical association in their study: 3.7% (18/484) of those in the prayer group were discharged within 24 hours compared with only 0.9% (5/529) of those in the usual care group (P<.005 by ² test if observations are independent). Since these discharges occurred before the intervention began (mean±SE,1.6 ± 0.16 days after admission), we are concerned that the statistical methods used by Harris et al,¹ which assume independence of the observations, may not be appropriate for their data. While their article states that "new patients were randomly assigned," it is not clear whether the same person who was readmitted for a new episode would have constituted a new patient; Figure 1 of their article does not indicate that readmissions of the same patient were excluded.¹ Since patient assignment was based on an (odd or even) . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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