Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial
📄 Original study ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
One of the most mind-bending medical studies ever: a proper double-blind randomized trial asking whether prayer can heal people backward through time. In 2000, someone prayed for hospital patients who had bloodstream infections between 1990 and 1996 — four to ten years after they were already sick. With nearly 3,400 patients, results were genuinely strange. Mortality was slightly lower in the prayed-for group but not statistically significant. However, hospital stays were significantly shorter and fevers resolved faster. Blinding was perfect since nobody could tamper with outcomes already years in the past. Published in the BMJ's playful Christmas issue, it sits in a fascinating gray zone: either a hint that causality runs backward, or proof that clinical trials applied to supernatural claims yield absurd results.
Actual Paper Abstract
Objective To determine whether remote, retroactive intercessory prayer, said for a group of patients with a bloodstream infection, has an effect on outcomes. Design Double blind, parallel group, randomised controlled trial of a retroactive intervention. Setting University hospital. Subjects All 3393 adult patients whose bloodstream infection was detected at the hospital in 1990-6. Intervention In July 2000 patients were randomised to a control group and an intervention group. A remote, retroactive intercessory prayer was said for the well being and full recovery of the intervention group. Main outcome measures Mortality in hospital, length of stay in hospital, and duration of fever. Results Mortality was 28.1% (475/1691) in the intervention group and 30.2% (514/1702) in the control group (P for difference = 0.4). Length of stay in hospital and duration of fever were significantly shorter in the intervention group than in the control group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.04, respectively). Conclusions Remote, retroactive intercessory prayer said for a group is associated with a shorter stay in hospital and shorter duration of fever in patients with a bloodstream infection and should be considered for use in clinical practice.
Research Notes
The most extreme test of intercessory prayer: retroactive intervention 4-10 years after patients' infections. Perfect blinding was inherent in the design. Frequently discussed as either a genuine anomaly or a reductio ad absurdum of applying RCTs to supernatural claims. Relevant to both the distant healing controversy (#5) and retrocausation debates.
Double-blind RCT testing whether retroactive intercessory prayer affects outcomes in 3,393 patients with bloodstream infection at Rabin Medical Center, Israel (1990-1996). In July 2000, patients were randomized and a single person said a short prayer for the intervention group's recovery — 4 to 10 years after the infections. Mortality was 28.1% (475/1691) in the intervention group versus 30.2% (514/1702) in controls (P = 0.4, not significant). Length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in the intervention group (median 7 vs 8 days, P = 0.01), as was duration of fever (P = 0.04). Published in the BMJ Christmas issue, the study is both methodologically rigorous and conceptually provocative, testing retrocausal prayer with a large, well-balanced sample.
Links
Related Papers
Cites
Cited By
Companion
- Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer — Benson, Herbert (2006)
- Integrative Noetic Therapies as Adjuncts to Percutaneous Intervention During Unstable Coronary Syndromes: Monitoring and Actualization of Noetic Training (MANTRA) Feasibility Pilot — Krucoff, Mitchell W (2001)
- Music, Imagery, Touch, and Prayer as Adjuncts to Interventional Cardiac Care: The Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II Randomised Study — Krucoff, Mitchell W (2005)
More in Healing
Effects of Intentionally-Treated Water on Cell Migration of Human Glioblastoma Cells
Water, Wine and the Sacred, An Anthropological View of Substances Altered by Intentioned Awareness, Including Objective and Aesthetic Effects
Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method
Infrared Spectra Alteration in Water Proximate to the Palms of Therapeutic Practitioners
Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries: Going Beyond Even Meta-Analysis of Distant Intention Effects
📋 Cite this paper
Leibovici, Leonard (2001). Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450
@article{leibovici_2001_retroactive_prayer,
title = {Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial},
author = {Leibovici, Leonard},
year = {2001},
journal = {BMJ},
doi = {10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450},
}