Do medical clowns really work?

Growing body of evidence suggests laughter and joy are key ingredients in a patient's recovery – even among adults

Two medical clowns at a hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria
Two medical clowns at a hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria
(Image credit: Hristo Rusev/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

New research into the positive effects medical clowns can have on children with pneumonia has added to the growing body of evidence suggesting laughter and joy are key ingredients in a patient's recovery – even among adults.

The team at Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, randomly assigned 26 children and teenagers, aged between 2 and 18, to be visited by medical clowns for 15 minutes, twice a day, up to two days after they arrived at the centre. Another control group of 25 children and teenagers received the same care but were not visited by clowns.

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