Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on balance, cognitive functions, quality of life, and falls prevention in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review.

Abstract

Scientific interest in mindfulness meditation as complementary therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) has grown significantly. This systematic review examined mindfulness meditation effects on PD motor, cognitive, falls-related (fear of falling (FoF), freezing of gait (FoG), falls prevention), psychological (anxiety and depression), physical (balance, mobility, gait velocity), and quality of life (QoL) outcomes. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, PEDro, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted from database inception to May 2026. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed independently by two reviewers. Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria: nine randomized controlled trials and five pre-post design studies. Following mindfulness meditation interventions: (1) Robust improvements were observed in anxiety symptoms; (2) Significant improvements were reported in depression and QoL; (3) Motor symptom improvements were inconsistent with limited evidence; (4) Findings on physical function outcomes, including balance and mobility, provided limited evidence of benefit, while one study demonstrated reduced gait speed; (5) Cognitive function improvements were mixed with benefits in specific domains but inconsistent general results; (6) Falls, FoF, and FoG were not evaluated despite clinical significance. There is a critical need for rigorously designed studies emphasizing motor outcomes and falls prevention to inform clinical practice.