Mindfulness meditation in patients effectively reduces anxiety symptoms: JAMA

Depression symptoms were measured using the PROMIS Depression scale, while QOL and role functioning were measured using the PROMIS Satisfaction. Bivariate statistics and multivariable regression analysis were employed to compare the groups. The intent-to-treat principle was applied to adjusted analyses, which employed linear mixed models that included every participant at baseline regardless of missing data at later time points.

This study involved a total of 276 individuals. The participants were indicated as Asian, Hispanic, or a different race or ethnicity. Except for BAI scores, there were no significant differences between the groups in demographic variables or baseline outcome measures. The participants in both groups reported reduced anxiety symptoms, with between-group variations matching to minor effect sizes.

No substantial variations were found at week 8 (the major end point). At week 4 (mid-treatment), substantial variations in PROMIS Anxiety and PROMIS Depression scores developed, with escitalopram providing more improvement, despite these differences were no longer significant by week 8. However, 110 escitalopram users (78.6%) reported at least one study-related adverse event when compared to 21 MBSR patients. Overall, this results are in line with other research showing that mindfulness may effectively treat panic and social anxiety disorders.

Reference:

Hu, H., Mete, M., Rustgi, N. K., Washington, C. I., Sanghavi, K., Dutton, M. A., Simon, N. M., Baker, A. W., Bui, E., & Hoge, E. A. (2024). Mindfulness Meditation vs Escitalopram for Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. In JAMA Network Open (Vol. 7, Issue 10, p. e2438453). American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.38453