Clinical Trial
Study Details
The intervention group received laying-on-of-hands every weekday for 1 year along with conventional medicine. The control group did not undergo any alternatives to OPT.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of 1-year administration of laying-on-of-hands on the morbidity and mortality of patients with sickle cell disease in Africa.
Study Overview
Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) have a high risk of premature death in Africa, mainly due to insufficient medical services. SCD patients often visit emergency department and need hospitalization when they suffer from severe pain; however, they manage most of painful episodes at home. Appropriate pain management at home is, therefore, crucial to improve their clinical course and quality of life. Laying-on-of-hands may be a good candidate for home care management, because family member(s) can become a practitioner of laying-on-of-hands without difficulty and administer it to their loved one as an initial treatment whenever necessary. There are no reports concerning the effectiveness of laying-on-of-hands for the outcomes of SCD patients, as far as we have investigated.