TY - JOUR
T1 - Meditation or exercise for preventing acute respiratory infection
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Barrett, Bruce
AU - Hayney, Mary S.
AU - Muller, Daniel
AU - Rakel, David
AU - Ward, Ann
AU - Obasi, Chidi N.
AU - Brown, Roger
AU - Zhang, Zhengjun
AU - Zgierska, Aleksandra
AU - Gern, James
AU - West, Rebecca
AU - Ewers, Tola
AU - Barlow, Shari
AU - Gassman, Michele
AU - Coe, Christopher L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Conflicts of interest: Bruce Barrett was previously supported by career development grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (K 23 AT 00051 ) and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, both of which were essential for developing the methodology and infrastructure for recruiting and monitoring research subjects, and for assessing their acute respiratory infections.
Funding Information:
Funding support: This study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (1R01AT004313); and by a grant UL1RR025011 from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program of the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. Aleksandra Zgierska is supported by grant K23 AA017508 from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at NIH.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate potential preventive effects of meditation or exercise on incidence, duration, and severity of acute respiratory infection (ARI) illness. METHODS: Community-recruited adults aged 50 years and older were randomized to 1 of 3 study groups: 8-week training in mindfulness meditation, matched 8-week training in moderate-intensity sustained exercise, or observational control. The primary outcome was area-under-the-curve global illness severity during a single cold and influenza season, using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24) to assess severity. Health care visits and days of missed work were counted. Nasal wash collected during ARI illness was assayed for neutrophils, interleukin-8, and viral nucleic acid. RESULTS: Of 154 adults randomized into the study, 149 completed the trial (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years). There were 27 ARI episodes and 257 days of ARI illness in the meditation group (n = 51), 26 episodes and 241 illness days in the exercise group (n = 47), and 40 episodes and 453 days in the control group (n = 51). Mean global severity was 144 for meditation, 248 for exercise, and 358 for control. Compared with control, global severity was significantly lower for meditation (P =.004). Both global severity and total days of illness (duration) trended toward being lower for the exercise group (P =.16 and P =.032, respectively), as did illness duration for the meditation group (P =.034). Adjusting for covariates using zero-infated multivariate regression models gave similar results. There were 67 ARI-related days of-work missed in the control group, 32 in the exercise group (P =.041), and 16 in the meditation group (P <. 0 0 1). Health care visits did not differ significantly. Viruses were identified in 54% of samples from meditation, 42% from exercise, and 54% from control groups. Neutrophil count and interleukin-8 levels were similar among intervention groups. CONCLUSIONS Training in meditation or exercise may be effective in reducing ARI illness burden.
AB - PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate potential preventive effects of meditation or exercise on incidence, duration, and severity of acute respiratory infection (ARI) illness. METHODS: Community-recruited adults aged 50 years and older were randomized to 1 of 3 study groups: 8-week training in mindfulness meditation, matched 8-week training in moderate-intensity sustained exercise, or observational control. The primary outcome was area-under-the-curve global illness severity during a single cold and influenza season, using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24) to assess severity. Health care visits and days of missed work were counted. Nasal wash collected during ARI illness was assayed for neutrophils, interleukin-8, and viral nucleic acid. RESULTS: Of 154 adults randomized into the study, 149 completed the trial (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years). There were 27 ARI episodes and 257 days of ARI illness in the meditation group (n = 51), 26 episodes and 241 illness days in the exercise group (n = 47), and 40 episodes and 453 days in the control group (n = 51). Mean global severity was 144 for meditation, 248 for exercise, and 358 for control. Compared with control, global severity was significantly lower for meditation (P =.004). Both global severity and total days of illness (duration) trended toward being lower for the exercise group (P =.16 and P =.032, respectively), as did illness duration for the meditation group (P =.034). Adjusting for covariates using zero-infated multivariate regression models gave similar results. There were 67 ARI-related days of-work missed in the control group, 32 in the exercise group (P =.041), and 16 in the meditation group (P <. 0 0 1). Health care visits did not differ significantly. Viruses were identified in 54% of samples from meditation, 42% from exercise, and 54% from control groups. Neutrophil count and interleukin-8 levels were similar among intervention groups. CONCLUSIONS Training in meditation or exercise may be effective in reducing ARI illness burden.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84863907867
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84863907867#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1370/afm.1376
DO - 10.1370/afm.1376
M3 - Article
C2 - 22778122
AN - SCOPUS:84863907867
SN - 1544-1709
VL - 10
SP - 337
EP - 346
JO - Annals of family medicine
JF - Annals of family medicine
IS - 4
ER -