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When new patients were added to groups receiving intercessory prayers as part of the study, the second-tier prayer groups were asked to pray for the primary prayer groups that had been praying for the patients all along. The researchers created this design to simulate a higher dose of prayer for the remaining patients enrolled in the study. Patients treated with "two-tiered" prayer had absolute six-month death and re-hospitalization rates that were about 30 percent lower than control patients, statistically characterized as a suggestive trend.

"While these are ancient healing modalities in all of the world's cultures, the scientific literature and understanding of the role of intangible human capacities in our world of high tech medical care is very, very young" said Krucoff. "The MANTRA II study shows that we can do good science in this arena, and that we can disseminate what we learn in high-level peer-reviewed publications. This is an early step, not a final one, in advancing our paradigms of optimal cardiovascular care."

Results of First Multicenter Trial of Intercessory Prayer, Healing Touch in Heart Patients
Duke University Medical Center 14.Jul.05