Mindfulness-based therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy: An assessor-blinded randomized trial.
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
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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.