Our objective was to investigate the efficacy of ââ?¬Å?energy/spiritual healingââ?¬Â in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Eligible patientswerewomen\nwith RA on stable medication. The design was a randomised, blinded, sham-controlled trial; the third group included an external\nunblinded control of the natural course of RA. Participants in both groups received 8 sessions with ââ?¬Å?perceived healingââ?¬Â over 21\nweeks with 8 weeks of follow-up. Active healing (AH) treatment comprised healing with no physical contact, and sham healing\n(SH) included exactly the same healing with a sham healer. During intervention, participants wore hearing protectors and were\nblindfolded. No healing (NH) only had their outcomes assessed. Coprimary outcomes were disease activity score (DAS) for 28\njoints and Doppler ultrasound. All 96 patients randomised were handled as the intention-to-treat population, using a baselinecarried\nforward approach to replace the missing data. Eighty-two (85%) participants completed the 29-week trial. At end point\n(week 29), mean difference in DAS28 between AH versus SH was statistically but not clinically significant in favour of AH (0.62\nDAS28 points; 95% CI: 0.13 to 1.11; ???? = 0.014), while no differences between groups occurred in Doppler ultrasound. There are no\nclear physiological or psychological explanations for the findings in this tightly controlled study. The trial data indicates a need for\nindependent replication.
Loading....