Preoperative Prayer and Postoperative Recovery Quality Among Patients Undergoing Thyroidectomy in South Korea

Cancer is a life-threatening condition often accompanied by psychological distress. Prayer is a longstanding religious and spiritual practice offering psychosocial and meaning-oriented support, yet its role as a resource in perioperative recovery remains underexplored. This non-randomized, preference-based study examined the association between preoperative prayer and postoperative recovery in patients with thyroid cancer undergoing thyroidectomy. The prayer group (n = 36) received physician-led preoperative prayer, while the non-prayer group (n = 36) served as controls. Baseline characteristics, intraoperative data, Quality of Recovery-40 (QoR-40) scores, pain scores, and analgesic use through postoperative day (POD) 2 were collected. Bonferroni-adjusted analysis showed a significant reduction in numeric rating scale pain scores from recovery room admission to POD2 in the prayer group (mean difference = -1.19, standard error [SE] = 0.32, p = 0.001). On POD1, only the non-prayer group showed declines in physical comfort (-2.94, SE = 1.28, p = 0.049) and global QoR-40 scores (-7.53, SE = 3.02, p = 0.030). By POD2, significant improvements in physical comfort (+ 2.94, SE = 1.18, p = 0.031) and global scores (+ 8.94, SE = 2.85, p = 0.005) occurred only in the prayer group, whereas physical independence decreased in the non-prayer group (-1.78, SE = 0.48, p = 0.001). Although no significant between-group differences were observed, exploratory within-group analyses suggested favorable changes in pain and QoR-40 scores on POD2 among patients who received prayer. These findings may reflect the psychosocial and cultural context of physician-led prayer and highlight the need for further research.