Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized trial

OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential effect of intercessory prayer (IP) on pr egnancy rates in women being treated with in vitro fertilization-embryo tra nsfer (IVF-ET). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, double-blind, randomized clinical trial in which patients and providers were not informed about the intervention. Statistic ians and investigators were masked until all the data had been collected an d clinical outcomes were known. The setting was an IVF-ET program at Cha Ho spital, Seoul, Korea. IP was carried out by prayer groups in the United Sta tes, Canada and Australia. The investigators were at a tertiary medical cen ter in the United States. The patients were 219 women aged 26-46 years who were consecutively treated with IVF-ET over a four-month period. Randomizat ion was performed after stratification of variables in two groups: distant IP vs. no IP. The clinical pregnancy rates in the two groups were the main outcome measure. RESULTS: After clinical pregnancies were known, the data were unmasked to a ssess the effects of IP after assessment of multiple comparisons in a log-l inear model.