Abstract
Consecutive patients (n = 221) presenting for initial consultation at a palliative care outpatient clinic were prospectively interviewed and then followed until death. Individual prayer activity (IPA) and global religion scores were associated with quality of life, symptoms, inflammatory markers, and survival. Analyses were adjusted for whether patients were still receiving anti-neoplastic therapies (ANTs) or not. Higher religion scores were associated with lower levels of inflammation in advanced cancer patients still undergoing ANTs. Additionally, higher IPA was an independent good prognostic factor in patients on active ANTs. Further studies are necessary to confirm these findings and to investigate possible biological mechanisms involved.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Learning and Research Institute of Barretos Cancer Hospital for revising the English text. We would like to thank the research nurses Camila Crovador and Camila Ito, and also Mr. André Vitor Spindola da Silva, from Researcher Support Center of Barretos Cancer Hospital for their help in data collection. Dr. Carlos Eduardo Paiva obtained his Masther (2006–2008) and PhD (2009–2011) degrees at the Faculty of Medicine of Botucatu (FMB), UNESP, Brazil. At this moment, Dr. Carlos is a post-doctoral fellow at FMB, working with the development of a new brief quality of life instrument directed to low educational patients. He is working at the Department of Medical Oncology and also at the Department of Palliative Care from Barretos Cancer Hospital (BCH, Barretos, SP, Brazil) since 2009. In addition, since 2011, he is one of the Professors from the Post-Graduation Program (MSc/PhD) from BCH. His research projects are focusing on palliative care and quality of life of cancer patients.
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Paiva, C.E., Paiva, B.S.R., Yennurajalingam, S. et al. The Impact of Religiosity and Individual Prayer Activities on Advanced Cancer Patients’ Health: Is There Any Difference in Function of Whether or Not Receiving Palliative Anti-neoplastic Therapy?. J Relig Health 53, 1717–1727 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-013-9770-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-013-9770-6