Psychology, Health & Medicine
April 15, 2025
Carlos Said Páez-márquez, Elkin Higuera-Dagovett, Jaime Tomás Rojas-Valencia
1 citation
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) modestly improve blood sugar control and mental health in people with diabetes. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomized trials involving 987 participants found that, at follow-up (12–20 weeks), MBIs reduced glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) by an average of 0.5 percentage points and lowered depression scores. The evidence suggests that mindfulness training—helping patients accept sensations and emotions without automatic reactivity—can complement standard diabetes care. The authors call for further research to confirm these effects and understand how MBIs fit into comprehensive diabetes treatment.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
January 1, 2025
Jeffrey M Pavlacic, Lindsay R Meredith, Alice M Boylan et al.
1 citation
A bedside mindfulness intervention was developed and tested for patients with sickle cell disease experiencing acute pain during infusion sessions. The intervention was designed with input from clinicians and patients. In interviews, 11 patients expressed interest in mindfulness skills and a need for personalized, non-pharmacological pain management. Among 14 participants who completed surveys, most liked the intervention and agreed it could help manage disease-related distress. Self-reported mindfulness increased after the sessions. These preliminary results support further development of mindfulness-based services to help individuals with sickle cell disease manage pain and psychological difficulties.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
February 4, 2026
Chaokang Luo, Nuoyan Lu, Chun-Qing Zhang
Brief mindfulness meditation reduces defensive reactions to threatening health messages and increases intentions to adopt healthy behaviors, though it does not significantly change actual behavior. Across two online experiments involving sleep hygiene advice and a fictional rare disease screening scenario, participants who engaged in a short mindfulness meditation showed less defensiveness and greater willingness to improve sleep or seek screening. In the screening experiment, mindfulness helped people accept risk feedback and lowered message defensiveness, which in turn boosted screening intentions. However, the meditation did not lead to a significant increase in actually making a screening appointment. Brief mindfulness practice may help health communication by making people more receptive to threatening information.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
February 28, 2026
Lin Wang, Zehao Yan, Xinran Zhang et al.
A meta-analysis of 7 controlled trials involving 570 cancer patients found that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) significantly reduced cancer-related fatigue compared to conventional care, with a combined effect size of -1.15 (95% CI [-1.56, -0.74]). Heterogeneity was high (I²=79%, p<0.001). The analysis noted slight publication bias and moderate study quality, with insufficient reporting of allocation concealment and blinding. The authors conclude that MBSR shows promise for alleviating fatigue but call for larger, more rigorous trials to confirm long-term effects and explore neurobiological mechanisms.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
September 23, 2025
Rita Canella, Teresa Fazia, Concetta Gardi
An 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program lowered perceived stress, anxiety, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8, while increasing awareness and plasma carotenoid levels in 42 adult volunteers. Changes in stress and anxiety correlated with changes in IL-8 and awareness. The program appears to reduce nervous system activation and cortisol, thereby lowering inflammation and oxidative stress, which may help manage hypertension and other stress-related conditions.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
November 26, 2020
Juhong Pei, Tong Ma, Rui-Lin Nan et al.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials involving 433 patients with chronic pain conditions (low back pain, fibromyalgia, migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, and mixed etiology) found that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) produced short-term improvements in depressed mood and mindfulness compared with usual care or non-MBCT controls. No significant between-group differences were observed for pain intensity, pain interference, or pain acceptance at short- or long-term follow-up. MBCT did not differ from active treatments on any outcome. The authors call for longer follow-up, larger samples, and more rigorous trials to address remaining uncertainties.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
November 2, 2020
M. Miniotti
Empathy is important in clinical care for patient satisfaction, adherence, and outcomes. This study examined how personality traits relate to empathy in 299 second-year Italian medical students. Students completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Positive low correlations appeared between empathy and Reward Dependence, Cooperativeness, and Self-transcendence. A regression model explained 14% of the variance in empathy, with sex and Self-transcendence as significant predictors. Female students were more empathetic than males, and greater Self-transcendence was associated with more empathy toward patient care. Attention to personality in medical curricula may help sustain student empathy.