The Faith Factor and Clinical Medicine

I have been working on a research project with two other investigators on the role of prayer in the physician-patient relationship. Modern medicine often seems to be practiced in a spiritual vacuum with the inherent assumption that all medical problems can be reduced to some sort of essential scientific truth. Yet as physicians, we are constantly dealing with problems and emotions (both our patients' and ours) that challenge our world view as we deal with issues affecting life and death on a daily basis. I often worry about our willingness to discard a resource of great meaning and value when coping with distressing and compelling problems. I’ve selected a few interesting items from some of the literature we’ve been reviewing for your information and possibly illumination.

1. Of 212 studies examining the effects of religious commitment on health care outcomes, 160(75%) demonstrated a positive benefit while 37 (17%) revealed a mixed effect or no effect, and 15 (7%) demonstrated a negative effect.

2. Religious commitment was found to benefit those struggling with psychiatric illness in 15/15 studies examining drug use, 18/19 studies of adjustment and coping, 20/24 studies of alcohol abusers, and 13/19 studies on depressive illness.

3. In a survey of 91,909 individuals in Washington County, Maryland, those who attended church once a week or more had: 50% fewer deaths from coronary artery disease; 56% fewer deaths from emphysema; 74% fewer deaths from cirrhosis; 53% fewer suicides

4. In a study of 225 elderly persons followed for two years after being forced to move from their home, the more religious committed were twice as likely to survive the study period.

5. A national survey of 2072 adolescents found that church attendance was inversely correlated with premarital sex in both males and females.

Dr. Russell Robertson is an the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His biweekly column of medical advice also appears in the CNI Community Newspapers throughout metropolitan Milwaukee.