New study links religion and cancer treatment

According to a new study published in the latest edition of JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Association, religion can play a vital role in which types of treatment cancer patients choose.

The study found that those who are more religious are three times more likely to accept mechanical ventilation and intensive life-prolonging care.

"Religious copers may choose aggressive therapies because they believe that God could use the therapy to provide divine healing, or they hope for a miraculous cure while intensive medical care prolongs life," the study authors wrote.

It's difficult to understand why those who are religious would prefer more intensive care, although one could draw many conclusions.  However, the study is flawed in that it looks at "religion", when in fact most of the 345 patients in the study were Christian.  I'd be curious to find out breakdowns between Atheist, Islam, Jewish, etc.. with a larger sample size.