Impact of mindfulness for people with arthritis
International Journal of Population Data Science June 14, 2018 Sinead Brophy, Roxanne Cooksey, Jonathan Kennedy et al.
People with ankylosing spondylitis who attended an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course visited their general practitioner less often afterward. Of 193 invited, 43 consented and took the course. In the 12 months before the course, MBSR participants averaged 7.6 GP visits; in the 12 months after, they averaged 4.6 visits. A comparison group of 500 people with AS who were not invited showed a smaller change (5.5 to 4.1 visits over a similar period). The reduction in GP visits was significantly greater in the MBSR group. The authors suggest MBSR could reduce GP visits for people with arthritis who frequently see their GP and that a full randomized trial is warranted.