- NEW YORK, NY -- Prayer seems
to almost double the success rate of in vitro fertilization procedures
that lead to pregnancy, according to surprising results from a study
carefully
designed to eliminate bias.
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- The controversial findings, published in the September
issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, reveal that a group of women
who had people praying for them had a 50 percent pregnancy rate compared
to a 26 percent rate in the group of women who did not have people praying
for them. None of the women undergoing the IVF procedures knew about the
praying.
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- The researchers acknowledge the results seem incredible
and say unknown biological factors may be playing a role in the difference
between the two groups. But they decided to go public with the results
in the hope that other scientists may carry out studies to determine if
the findings are reproducible and, if so, what factors might be responsible
for the improved success rate in the group of women who had people praying
for them.
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- "We could have ignored the findings, but that would
not help to advance the field," says Dr. Rogerio Lobo, chairman of
obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) at Columbia University College of
Physicians
& Surgeons and lead author of the study.
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- "We are putting the results out there hoping to
provoke discussion and see if anything can be learned from it. We would
like to understand the biological or other phenomena that led to this
almost
doubling of the pregnancy rate."
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- The study, which had several safeguards in place to
eliminate
bias, involved 199 women planning in vitro fertilization and embryo
transfers
at the Cha Hospital in Seoul, Korea, between December 1998 and March 1999.
A statistician randomly assigned the prospective mothers to either a prayer
group (100 women) or a non-prayer group (99). Besides the women, the
physicians
and medical personnel caring for the women did not know a study of prayer
was ongoing.
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- The people praying for the women lived in the United
States, Canada, and Australia and were incapable of knowing or contacting
the women undergoing the procedures. Which women were in which group was
not revealed until the pregnancy data became available at the completion
of the study. The people praying were from Christian denominations and
were separated into three groups. One group received pictures of the women
and prayed for an increase in their pregnancy rate. Another group prayed
to improve the effectiveness of the first group. A third group prayed for
the two other groups. Anecdotal evidence from other prayer research has
found this method to be most effective. The three groups began to pray
within five days of the initial hormone treatment that stimulates egg
development
and continued to pray for three weeks.
-
- Besides finding a higher pregnancy rate among the women
who had a group praying for them, the researchers found older women seemed
to benefit more from prayer. For women between 30 and 39, the pregnancy
rate for the prayer group was 51 percent, compared with 23 percent for
the non-prayer group.
-
- The researchers analyzed their data several ways to see
if they could find other variables that would have accounted for the
differences
between the two groups. However, no adjustments altered the results. The
group will continue to study whether its findings are genuine and, if so,
what mechanisms might be at work.
-
- Other studies have shown that prayer seems to exert a
benefit for heart patients. The researchers believe theirs is the first
study looking at prayer and infertility.
-
- None of the researchers are employed by religious
organizations
and were not asked by religious groups to perform the study. Dr. Kwang
Y. Cha, director of the Cha Hospital and an associate research scientist
at OB/GYN at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons,
funded the research through his hospital.
-
-
- Note: This story has been adapted from a news release
issued by Columbia University College Of Physicians And Surgeons for
journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from
any part of this story, please credit Columbia University College Of
Physicians
And Surgeons as the original source. You may also wish to include the
following link in any citation: http://www.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011002065831.htm
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