Prayer May Influence In Vitro Fertilization Success

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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."

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.

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.

God help us if we now have to endure scientific studies about the usefulness of prayer.

This study wouldn't have anything to do with discrediting the Catholic Church's position on IVF, would it? Nah, of course not; scientific studies are never done to promote an agenda.

"I'm not Catholic however I wonder how God really views mere mortals playing God in the creation of a life. Prayer has its place and is important but I believe IVF is questionable and also question what other characteristics these women had other than prayer.

There are over 300 studies in the medical literature that document the effectiveness of prayer. Nuf Said!

Peace,

DrMike

I have no question that prayer is effective. If one didn't believe that, why would one pray? But if one does believe prayer is effective, he is in no need of a scientific study to prove the case.

The most effective prayer is "Thy will be done."

Well, it's certainly a nice stop-gap measure until we can rely instead on the artificial wombs Steven Hawking and Almighty Science have promised us.

I'm sure 100% artificial production of human life will prove far superior as a rule to a Kiss and a Prayer.

(You are merciless ... )

The Columbia University 'Miracle' Study: Flawed and Fraud

http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-09/miracle-study.html

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