SynthesisJournal of religion and health2020
The Use of Prayer in the Management of Pain: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of religion and health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are Prayer-Based Interventions Effective Pain Management Options? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of religion and health · 2023Pooled it
- The Effect of Praying on Endogenous Pain Modulation and Pain Intensity in Healthy Religious Individuals in Lebanon: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of religion and health · 2023Trial
- The Effect of Listening to the Recitation of the Surah Al-Inshirah on Labor Pain, Anxiety and Comfort in Muslim Women: A Randomized Controlled Study.Journal of religion and health · 2022Trial
- Immediate Effects of Hypnosis, Mindfulness Meditation, and Prayer on Cold Pressor Outcomes: A Four-Arm Parallel Experimental Study.Journal of pain research · 2022Trial
- Barriers to Physician and Patient Prayer in Clinical Practice: A Cross-Sectional Study of Physicians in the United States and Internationally.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Cesarean Sections and Family Planning Among Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews.Journal of religion and health · 2024Article
- The Pain and PRAYER Scale (PPRAYERS): development and validation of a scale to measure pain-related prayer.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2023Article
- Prayer as a pain intervention: protocol of a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Training to Conduct Research on Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Commentary.Journal of religion and health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The availability of safe and effective non-pharmacological therapies for pain is an important unmet medical need. Prayer may be considered as an effective adjunctive therapy for pain and this systematic review aims to clarify this association. Pertinent databases were searched for English language publications, dated 2000-2019. Inclusion criteria involved prayer as an on-site or personal intervention and at least one pre-specified pain-related outcome. We evaluated 411 abstracts. Nine studies met criteria. Active prayer to God emerged as a preferred beneficial intervention for religious patients undergoing surgery or a painful procedure. Prayer effect does not seem to be opioid mediated. Improved trial design will facilitate the study of prayer as an adjuvant therapy for pain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.