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Mindfulness-based therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy: An assessor-blinded randomized trial.

Neurology
January 1, 1970
Venus Tang et al. (3 authors)
Journal ArticleRandomized Controlled TrialHuman StudyClinical
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy (MT) and social support (SS) in improving quality of life, mood, seizure frequency, and cognitive functions in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Results Summary

Both MT and SS improved quality of life (QOLIE-31-P scores), but MT showed significantly greater benefits, including reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower seizure frequency, and improved delayed memory compared to SS.

Population

Patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (n=60, 30 per group).

Effective Dosage

4 biweekly intervention sessions.

Duration

Not explicitly stated, but implied to be 8 weeks (4 sessions biweekly).

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (12)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
increase
total score of the Patient-Weighted Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31-P)
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
+6.23 (95% CI +4.22 to +10.40)
improved
#1
social support (SS)
increase
total score of the Patient-Weighted Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31-P)
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
+3.30 (95% CI +1.03 to +5.58)
improved
#2
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
increase
QOLIE-31-P
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
+11.8 or above
had a clinically important improvement
#3
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
decrease
depressive symptoms
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
greater reduction
#4
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
decrease
anxiety symptoms
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
greater reduction
#5
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
decrease
seizure frequency
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
greater reduction
#6
mindfulness-based therapy (MT)
increase
delayed memory
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
improvement
#7
mindfulness therapy
increase
quality of life
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
associated with greater benefits
#8
mindfulness therapy
increase
mood
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
associated with greater benefits
#9
mindfulness therapy
decrease
seizure frequency
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
associated with greater benefits
#10
mindfulness therapy
increase
verbal memory
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
associated with greater benefits
#11
mindfulness-based therapy
increase
quality of life
patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
-
significantly improves
#12
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy (MT) and social support (SS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. METHODS: We performed an assessor-blinded randomized control trial. Sixty patients with drug-resistant epilepsy were randomly allocated to MT or SS (30 per group). Each group received 4 biweekly intervention sessions. The primary outcome was the change in the total score of the Patient-Weighted Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31-P). Secondary outcomes included seizure frequency, mood symptoms, and neurocognitive functions. The assessors were blinded to the patient's intervention grouping. Results were analyzed using general linear model with repeated measure. RESULTS: Following intervention, both the MT (n=30) and SS (n=30) groups had an improved total QOLIE-31-P, with an improvement of +6.23 for MT (95% confidence interval [CI] +4.22 to +10.40) and +3.30 for SS (95% CI +1.03 to +5.58). Significantly more patients in the MT group had a clinically important improvement in QOLIE-31-P (+11.8 or above) compared to those who received SS (11 patients vs 4 patients). Significantly greater reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms, seizure frequency, and improvement in delayed memory was observed in the MT group compared with the SS group. CONCLUSIONS: We found benefits of short-term psychotherapy on patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Mindfulness therapy was associated with greater benefits than SS alone in quality of life, mood, seizure frequency, and verbal memory. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that mindfulness-based therapy significantly improves quality of life in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdultDrug ResistanceEpilepsyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMindfulnessPsychotherapy, GroupQuality of LifeSingle-Blind MethodSocial SupportTreatment Outcome
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality80/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations57
Citations/Year5.7
Relative Citation Ratio2.88
NIH Percentile84.1%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score1.88
Normalized Score0.70
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