Effects of meditation on anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life of women undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer. 


Author: Kim YH, Kim HJ, Ahn SD, Seo YJ, Kim SH.

Affiliation: Department of Nursing, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. 
Conference/Journal: Complement Ther Med.
Date published: 2013 Aug
Other:
 Volume ID: 21   ,  Issue ID: 4   ,  Pages: 379-87   ,  Special Notes:  doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2013.06.005   ,  Word Count: 238  
    

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate the effects of meditation on anxiety, depression, fatigue, and quality of life in women who are receiving radiation therapy for breast cancer.

DESIGN:

Randomized, non-program controlled, parallel intervention clinical trial.

SETTING:

The ASAN Cancer Center located in Seoul, Korea.

INTERVENTION:

The subjects of this study included 102 female breast cancer patients who had undergone breast-conserving surgery; these female patients were randomized into equally assigned meditation control groups, with each group consisting of 51 patients. The test group received a total of 12 meditation therapy sessions during their 6-week radiation therapy period, and the control group underwent only a conventional radiation therapy.

OUTCOME:

The tools used to evaluate the effects of meditation were Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, Revised Piper Fatigue scale, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Core-30. The results were analyzed based on the principles of intention-to-treat analysis, and, as a corollary analysis, per-protocol analysis was conducted.

RESULTS:

The breast cancer patients who received meditation therapy compared with the non-intervention group saw improvements in reduction of anxiety (p=.032), fatigue (p=.030), and improvement in global quality of life (p=.028).

CONCLUSIONS:

Based on the results of this study, an affirmation can be made that meditation can be used as a non-invasive intervention treatment for improving fatigue, anxiety, quality of life, and emotional faculties of women with breast cancer.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Anxiety, Breast cancer, Fatigue, Meditation, Quality of life



PMID: 23876569