Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36495356›Full record

Trial reportJournal of religion and health2023

The Effect of Praying on Endogenous Pain Modulation and Pain Intensity in Healthy Religious Individuals in Lebanon: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Charbel Najem, Mira Meeus, Barbara Cagnie, Farah Ayoubi, Mikel Al Achek, Paul Van Wilgen, Jessica Van Oosterwijck, Kayleigh De Meulemeester

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of religion and health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Charbel NajemSpine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. charbel.najem@ua.edu.lb.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2639-6560
Mira MeeusSpine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Barbara CagnieSpine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Farah AyoubiDepartment of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Public Health, Antonine University, Hadat, Lebanon.
Mikel Al AchekDepartment of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Public Health, Antonine University, Hadat, Lebanon.
Paul Van WilgenPain in Motion International Research Group, Ghent, Belgium.
Jessica Van OosterwijckSpine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Kayleigh De MeulemeesterSpine, Head and Pain Research Unit Ghent, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Antonine University · LBGhent University · BEUniversity of Antwerp · BELebanese University · LBTranscare · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Prayer is considered to be the most common therapy used in alternative medicine. This study aimed to explore the effect of prayers on endogenous pain modulation, pain intensity, and sensitivity in healthy religious participants. A total of 208 healthy religious participants were enrolled in this study and randomly distributed into two groups, a prayer group (n = 156) and a poem reading or control group (n = 52). Participants from the prayer group were then selectively allocated using the prayer function scale to either an active prayer group (n = 94) receiving an active type of praying or to a passive prayer group (n = 62) receiving a passive type of praying. Pain assessments were performed before and following the interventions and included pressure pain threshold assessment (PPT), conditioned pain modulation (CPM), and a numerical pain rating scale. A significant group-by-time interaction for PPT (p = 0.014) indicated post-intervention increases in PPT in the prayer group but not in the poem reading control group. Participants experienced a decrease in CPM efficacy (p = 0.030) and a reduction in their NPRS (p < 0.001) following the interventions, independent of their group allocation. The results showed that prayer, irrespective of the type, can positively affect pain sensitivity and intensity, but does not influence endogenous pain inhibition during hot water immersion. Future research should focus on understanding the mechanism behind "prayer-induced analgesia."

Indexed as

PainReligionHumansLebanonPain ManagementPain MeasurementConditioned pain modulationPainPrayerPressure pain thresholdReligion

Identifiers

PMID36495356
PMCPMC9739350
OpenAlexW4311288816

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.