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William S. Harris, PhD; Manohar Gowda, MD; Jerry W. Kolb, MDiv; Christopher P. Strychacz, PhD; James L. Vacek, MD; Philip G. Jones, MS; Alan Forker, MD; James H. O'Keefe, MD; Ben D. McCallister, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1999;159:2273-2278.

Context  Intercessory prayer (praying for others) has been a common response to sickness for millennia, but it has received little scientific attention. The positive findings of a previous controlled trial of intercessory prayer have yet to be replicated.

Objective  To determine whether remote, intercessory prayer for hospitalized, cardiac patients will reduce overall adverse events and length of stay.

Design  Randomized, controlled, double-blind, prospective, parallel-group trial.

Setting  Private, university-associated hospital.

Patients  Nine hundred ninety consecutive patients who were newly admitted to the coronary care unit (CCU).

Intervention  At the time of admission, patients were randomized to receive remote, intercessory prayer (prayer group) or not (usual care group). The first names of patients in the prayer group were given to a team of outside intercessors who prayed for them daily for 4 weeks. Patients were unaware that they were being prayed for, and the intercessors did not know and never met the patients.

Main Outcome Measures  The medical course from CCU admission to hospital discharge was summarized in a CCU course score derived from blinded, retrospective chart review.

Results  Compared with the usual care group (n=524), the prayer group (n=466) had lower mean±SEM weighted (6.35±0.26 vs 7.13±0.27; P=.04) and unweighted (2.7±0.1 vs 3.0±0.1; P=.04) CCU course scores. Lengths of CCU and hospital stays were not different.

Conclusions  Remote, intercessory prayer was associated with lower CCU course scores. This result suggests that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care.

From the Mid America Heart Institute, Saint Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo (Drs Harris, Vacek, O'Keefe, and McCallister and Messrs Kolb and Jones); the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Missouri–Kansas City (Drs Gowda and Forker); and the Department of Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego (Dr Strychacz).

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