Post-operative patients with religious faith have a better survival
rate than those without such beliefs, according to a new study.
The research, which examined liver transplant patients, found that
people who were actively “seeking God” fared better than those who did
not hold religious faith, regardless of which faith they held, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Even patients who did not attend church were up to three times more
likely to survive by having a “strong religious connection,” according to the study.
The findings, published in the journal Liver Transplantation, back up previous studies showing how religion and faith can “influence disease progression.”
Dr Franco Bonaguidi, who led the study, said the study found patients
with “high religious coping” who actively sought “God's help” and
trusted their beliefs had a “more prolonged post-transplant survival
than patients with low religiosity. We found that an active search for
God, (where) the patient's faith in a higher power rather than a generic
destiny, had a positive impact on patient survival,” he said.
Dr Bonaguidi added that it was, “the personal relationship between
the patient and God, regardless of religious creed rather than formal
church attendance that positively affected survival.”
The specific religious beliefs held by a person did not appear to matter.
In their study, researchers selected 179 patients who had received a
liver transplant between January 2004 and December 2007.
The group, the
majority whom were male and middle aged, also completed a “religiosity”
questionnaire before being monitored for the next four years after
their transplant.
Almost two years later, religious patients were three times as likely
to survive as those who did not hold such faith.
After three years,
almost seven per cent of the actively "seeking-God" patients had died
compared to more than a fifth of non-religious believers.
The researchers concluded that the “search for God factor” coupled
with a patient’s length of stay in an intensive care unit were
“independently associated with survival.”
One participant, who was not
identified, told the researchers that they “recovered” their life
through the will of God, which made them “feel strong and calm.”
The study pointed to previous research, which it said showed people
with HIV as well as heart patients, kidney dialysis patients had better
survival chance if they were religious.
Last month researchers from Penn State University found that losing
faith was bad for a person’s health as leaving a strict religion made
people more likely to increase their drinking and smoking and were more
susceptible to negativity and stress.
SIC: CIN/INT'L