Systematic Review for the Medical Applications of Meditation in Randomized Controlled Trials
Author: Do-Young Kim1, Soo-Hwa Hong1, Seung-Hyeon Jang1, So-Hyeon Park1, Jung-Hee Noh1, Jung-Mi Seok1, Hyun-Jeong Jo1, Chang-Gue Son2, Eun-Jung Lee3
Affiliation:
1 Korean Medical College, Daejeon University, 62, Daehak-ro, Dong-gu, Daejeon 34520, Korea.
2 Department of Liver and Immunology Research Center, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 75, Daedeok-daero 176, Seo-gu, Daejeon 35235, Korea.
3 Department of Korean Rehabilitation Medicine, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, 75, Daedeok-daero 176, Seo-gu, Daejeon 35235, Korea.
Conference/Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health
Date published: 2022 Jan 22
Other:
Volume ID: 19 , Issue ID: 3 , Pages: 1244 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031244. , Word Count: 203
Background:
Meditation has been increasingly adapted for healthy populations and participants with diseases. Its beneficial effects are still challenging to determine due to the heterogeneity and methodological obstacles regarding medical applications. This study aimed to integrate the features of therapeutic meditation in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Methods:
We conducted a systematic review of RCTs with meditation for populations with diseases using the PubMed database through June 2021. We analyzed the characteristics of the diseases/disorders, participants, measurements, and their overall benefits.
Results:
Among a total of 4855 references, 104 RCTs were determined and mainly applied mindfulness-based (51 RCTs), yoga-based (32 RCTs), and transcendental meditation (14 RCTs) to 10,139 patient-participants. These RCTs were conducted for participants with a total of 45 kinds of disorders; the most frequent being cancer, followed by musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases and affective mood disorder. Seven symptoms or signs were frequently assessed: depressive mood, feeling anxious, quality of life, stress, sleep, pain, and fatigue. The RCTs showed a higher ratio of positive outcomes for sleep (73.9%) and fatigue (68.4%).
Conclusions:
This systematic review produced the comprehensive features of RCTs for therapeutic meditation. These results will help physicians and researchers further study clinical adaptations in the future as reference data.
Keywords: RCT; depression; fatigue; meditation; review; sleep.
PMID: 35162267 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19031244
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