اثر دعا درماني بر هموگلوبين و فريتين بيماران مبتلا به تالاسمي: يك مطالعه راهنما

Intercessory prayer and ferritin and hemoglobin in major thalassemia: a pilot study

Objective(s): Intercessory prayer (IP) is one of the newly recognized holistic treatment methods and its effectiveness has been documented on the management of different diseases such as coronary heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and infertility. This study aims to determine its effectiveness on ferritin and blood indices of major thalassemic patients. Methods: This was an interventional study assessing seven patients attending an outpatient clinic receiving IP in addition to their routine treatment. Results: In all IP was performed 5.86 times for each patient as close-laying of hands and 6 times as remote IP. Before the study, the mean hemoglobin was 9.7 mg/dl, which increased to 10.8 afterwards (P=0.028). Mean serum ferritin was 2246.8 before the intervention which decreased to 1680.8 afterwards. Blood transfusion interval doubled in four patients. Dizziness and fatigue, which were reported by two patients before intervention, disappeared afterwards. Three patients reported an improvement in their school performance after the study. Conclusion: This pilot study showed that intercessory prayer was effective in increasing hemoglobin and transfusion interval, decreasing ferritin and improving school performance in patients with major thalassemia. A larger randomized trial is suggested to confirm the results.