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Meditation and breathwork on anxiety in Parkinson's disease: A pilot randomized controlled trial

delete2026-08-06
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PRE
AI
A
Akila Rayapuraju
P
Preeti Upadhyay
J
J Liu
M
Mei Chen
M
Morgan Pratt
T
Tulsi Chase
V
Victor Novack
D
Daniel Weintraub
D
David K. Simon
B
Balachundhar Subramaniam
DOI:10.1177/1877718x261463924delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
<jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Anxiety and other non-motor symptoms can greatly diminish quality of life in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Yet, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have assessed accessible, non-pharmacological mental health treatments for people with PD.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Objective</jats:title> <jats:p>To assess the feasibility and impact of brief, remotely-delivered meditation and breathwork on neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with PD.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>In this 18-week RCT, intervention participants attended weekly webinars for six weeks, while waitlisted controls maintained their usual routine before crossing over at six weeks. Participants were assessed for weekly compliance trends (primary outcome) and changes in anxiety (primary outcome), depression, perceived stress, and other non-motor symptoms at 6-week intervals: baseline and weeks 6 (T2), 12 (T3), and 18 (T4). Weekly compliance was collected in each group for 12 weeks. Anxiety was measured using the Parkinson's Anxiety Scale.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p> There was a significant decrease in the primary outcome, anxiety, in the intervention group (n = 17) compared to the waitlist control (n = 21) after 6 weeks of meditation and breathwork practice (mean difference (MD)= −5.0, 95% CI [−9.5, −0.49], <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>  = .03). Within-group analysis further confirmed a significant reduction in anxiety (MD = −4.7, 95% CI [2.10,7.33], <jats:italic toggle="yes">P</jats:italic>  &lt; .001) in the intervention group (n = 28). Thirty-one percent of participants met the compliance definition. </jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>Remotely-delivered meditation and breathwork through the BSM program significantly reduced anxiety in individuals with PD in our study and may be a promising non-pharmacological therapy. A larger RCT with continuous wellness coaching is warranted to more rigorously assess efficacy and optimize protocols.</jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>Clinical trial registration:</jats:bold> ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05335850, <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05335850">https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05335850</jats:ext-link> </jats:p> </jats:sec>

Journal

J
Journal of Parkinsons Disease
IF:
5
Papers:
1.7K
Citations:
6.5K

Organization

S
soroka university medical center
Scholars:
170
Papers: 92
Citations: 0
B
beth israel deaconess medical center
Scholars:
739
Papers: 384
Citations: 0
H
harvard medical school
Scholars:
4.6K
Papers: 2.1K
Citations: 2
U
University of Pennsylvania
Scholars:
1.0W
Papers: 3.7K
Citations: 11.8W
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