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The Effect of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction on Glycemic Control and Psychological Well-being of Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Review of Experimental Studies

Arina Qona’ah, Moses Glorino Rumambo Pandin, Nursalam Nursalam

preprint DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.27.23300572 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Systematic review
Population Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Duration 8 weeks
Topics Meditation
Key findings The review reports that mindfulness interventions, mostly 8-week MBSR taught by trained professionals, significantly reduce fasting blood sugar and HbA1c in type 2 diabetes patients and improve psychological well-being, including reductions in depression, anxiety, and improvements in resilience and emotional health. The authors conclude mindfulness can help manage diabetes patients' psychological problems, which in turn may support glycemic control.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most diabetes mellitus patients experience psychological problems resulting from the disease, disease management, and complications. Inadequate management of psychological problems may place patients at greater risk for depression. This systematic review aims to identify the effects of mindful interventions in controlling glycemic levels and psychological well-being in diabetes mellitus patients. The systematic review conducted on the study used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. This systematic review uses the Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases. The keywords used are diabetes mellitus type 2, mindfulness-based stress reduction, AND/OR, glycemic control, blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and psychological well-being. The words used are adjusted to the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH). The articles used are published in English in 2014 – 2023, full-text, and are research articles. The search results showed that most mindfulness interventions used were MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) for 8 weeks taught by professionals. Mindfulness is provided by trained professionals and taught again using communication media, namely CDs or mobile applications. Mindfulness has a significant effect on reducing fasting blood sugar levels and HbA1c in type 2 DM patients. Mindfulness improves psychological well-being and reduces depression, anxiety, resilience, and emotional health in diabetes patients. Mindfulness is a therapy that can be used to manage the psychological problems of DM patients where with good emotional control the patient can control glycemic levels to normal limits

Comparable studies

Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations 2014 Meta-analysis n = 3,515
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects 2009 Systematic review and meta-analysis
The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators 2012 Meta-analysis n = 163
Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission 2016 Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials n = 1,258
Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials 2011 Systematic review

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