The Effect of Meditation, Mindfulness, and Yoga in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Laura Slagter, Koen Demyttenaere, Patrick Verschueren, Diederik De Cock
Journal of Personalized Medicine November 15, 2022 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12111905 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients with rheumatoid arthritis |
| Interventions | Meditation Mindfulness Yoga |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Mind–body therapies Rheumatoid arthritis Yoga |
| Key findings | Across 23 included studies, meditation, mindfulness, and yoga showed various beneficial effects on patient-reported outcomes such as vitality, functioning, and mental health, and on disease activity markers. Mindfulness-based interventions mainly reduced subjective disease activity parameters (joint tenderness, morning stiffness, pain) rather than objective ones (swollen joints, CRP). The authors suggest RA patients with recurrent depression may benefit more from these therapies than those without. |
Abstract
Mind-body therapies (MBTs), including meditation, yoga, and mindfulness, create an interaction between the mind and body to enhance health. MBTs are perceived by both patients and healthcare professionals as valuable in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the extent of this contribution is unclear, as are the patient subgroups who benefit most from MBTs. Therefore, this systematic literature review investigates the effects of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga in patients with RA. We searched four databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science (core collection, Chinese and Korean collection), and CINAHL). All studies were screened by two independent reviewers via the title/abstract/full text. The studies included any form of meditation/mindfulness/yoga as an intervention for RA. Animal studies, case reports, non-English articles, qualitative studies, conference abstracts, and articles without full-text access were excluded. Each study was assessed for its quality. Out of 1527 potentially eligible records, 23 studies were included. All three MBTs showed various effects on patient-reported outcomes, such as vitality, functioning, and mental health, as well as on disease activity markers. Mindfulness-based interventions mainly reduced the subjective disease activity parameters (e.g., joint tenderness, morning stiffness, and pain), rather than the objective disease activity parameters (e.g., swollen joints and C-reactive protein (CRP)). RA patients with recurrent depression may benefit more from these non-pharmacological therapies than patients without recurrent depression. This systematic literature review found that MBTs show added value in RA management, especially for patients with depressive symptoms. These non-pharmacological approaches, when used in addition to medication, might diminish polypharmacy in specific RA patient populations. Lay Summary: In recent decades, more attention has been given to the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with options other than solely using medication. Such alternative options for patients to increase their quality of life are, for instance, meditation, yoga, and mindfulness. These examples of mind-body therapies (MBTs) are techniques that create an interaction between the mind and the bodily functions in order to obtain relaxation and enhance overall health. Although it is believed that these mind-body techniques are valuable in the management of RA, the extent of their contribution is still unclear, as is the question of if certain subgroups of patients benefit more from these complementary therapies. This systematic literature review investigated the effects of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A literature search was systematically performed within four different scientific databases by two independent reviewers. Out of 1527 potentially eligible articles, 23 studies were included. All three MBTs showed beneficial effects, which were mostly on the vitality, functioning, and mental health of patients with RA, but also on symptoms related to disease activity. RA patients with recurrent depression seemed to benefit more from these non-pharmacological therapies than patients without recurrent depression. Hence, we can conclude that MBTs show added value in the management of RA.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Meditation and Its Mental and Physical Health Benefits in 2023. Cureus June 1, 2023
- Mindfulness Meditation: Building Interreligious Understanding and Harmony in Indonesia Journal of Social Innovation and Knowledge June 20, 2025
- Systemic Sclerosis Patients Experiencing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program: The Beneficial Effect on Their Psychological Status and Quality of Life. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health January 31, 2023
Cites 4
- Effect of Mindfulness‐Based stress reduction in rheumatoid arthritis patients Arthritis Care & Research September 28, 2007
- Mindfulness meditation–based pain relief: a mechanistic account Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 1, 2016
- Mindfulness and Cognitive-behavioral Interventions for Chronic Pain: Differential Effects on Daily Pain Reactivity and Stress Reactivity Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology November 3, 2014
- Comparison of cognitive behavioral and mindfulness meditation interventions on adaptation to rheumatoid arthritis for patients with and without history of recurrent depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology June 2008