Abstract
Mindfulness-based interventions have shown some efficacy in decreasing stress levels and improving quality of life. However, so far, only a few studies have studied this type of intervention among patients with inflammatory bowel disease and none of them have studied their effects on inflammatory biomarkers. This current study was a two-armed, single-centre, randomised (2:1 ratio) controlled trial used to evaluate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (n = 37) compared to standard medical therapy (n = 20) in patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. The mindfulness intervention blended four internet-based therapy modules with four face-to-face support sessions. The outcomes we assessed were faecal calprotectin (primary outcome), C-reactive protein, and cortisol levels measured in hair samples at several timepoints. The between-group analysis highlighted significant decreases in faecal calprotectin and in C-reactive protein levels in the mindfulness-based intervention group compared to the standard medical therapy group at the six-month follow-up (faecal calprotectin: −367, [95% CI: −705, −29], P = 0.03; C-reactive protein: −2.82, [95% CI: −5.70, 0.08], P = 0.05), with moderate to large effect sizes (faecal calprotectin: ηp2 = 0.085; C-reactive protein: ηp2 = 0.066). We concluded that mindfulness-based therapy administered as part of standard clinical practice effectively improves inflammatory biomarkers in patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.
Highlights
Mindfulness-based interventions have shown some efficacy in decreasing stress levels and improving quality of life
Inflammation biomarkers have been widely described as potentially useful in several different clinical scenarios. They are usually used for two main reasons: firstly, to identify which patients from among those with symptoms compatible with of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) should be submitted for further analyses with a view to providing a definitive diagnosis of this disease; secondly, they may be used in patients diagnosed with IBD to measure and/or monitor how the disease activity responds to induction or maintenance therapy
In this study we assessed the effectiveness of a blended mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) intervention and examined its effect on mucosal inflammation by testing inflammation biomarker concentrations in patients diagnosed with IBD
Summary
Mindfulness-based interventions have shown some efficacy in decreasing stress levels and improving quality of life. They are usually used for two main reasons: firstly, to identify which patients from among those with symptoms compatible with of IBD should be submitted for further analyses with a view to providing a definitive diagnosis of this disease; secondly, they may be used in patients diagnosed with IBD to measure and/or monitor how the disease activity responds to induction or maintenance therapy The latter encompasses a wide range of situations which could include the identification of patients who may be starting to relapse while www.nature.com/scientificreports receiving an already-established therapy or whose response to a new treatment is good; checking for potential relapses in patients with CD after surgical resection, and increasingly, screening for any patients with a high probability of suffering a clinical relapse when a given therapy is withdrawn. Their positive effects on different mental health conditions have been reported in diverse clinical and non-clinical populations[26]
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