Systematic Review for the Medical Applications of Meditation in Randomized Controlled Trials.
Do-Young Kim, Soo-Hwa Hong, Seung-Hyeon Jang, So-Hyeon Park, Jung-Hee Noh, Jung-Mi Seok, Hyun-Jeong Jo, Chang-Gue Son, Eun-Jung Lee
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health January 22, 2022 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19031244 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA systematic review of 104 randomized controlled trials involving 10,139 participants with 45 different disorders found that meditation-based interventions—primarily mindfulness-based, yoga-based, and transcendental meditation—most often targeted symptoms such as depressive mood, anxiety, quality of life, stress, sleep, pain, and fatigue. Positive outcomes were most frequently reported for sleep (73.9% of trials) and fatigue (68.4% of trials). The review provides a comprehensive overview of how therapeutic meditation has been studied in clinical populations, highlighting the most common conditions and symptoms addressed, though methodological heterogeneity remains a challenge.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 10,139 |
| Population | Patient-participants with 45 kinds of disorders, most frequently cancer, musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases, and affective mood disorder |
| Topics | Depression Meditation |
| Keywords | Rct Fatigue Sleep |
| Key finding | Among 104 RCTs, positive outcomes were most frequent for sleep (73.9%) and fatigue (68.4%). |
Abstract
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). 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. 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%). 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.