Long-term treatment outcomes of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for fatigue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Results of a randomized controlled trial.
Journal of Psychosomatic Research December 1, 2024 Quirine M Bredero, Joke Fleer, Ans Smink et al.
Fatigue is common among people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission. A randomized controlled trial tested whether fatigue reductions from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) lasted nine months. Among 108 fatigued IBD patients who received MBCT, the reduced fatigue level post-treatment did not change significantly during follow-up. 29% of patients reported clinically relevant improvement from before treatment to nine months. Secondary outcomes (fatigue interference, depression, anxiety, quality of life) remained stable. Patients who improved were significantly more often unemployed. The findings suggest that MBCT's fatigue reductions are sustained over nine months, with about one-third of patients experiencing clinically meaningful improvement.