Meditation and breathwork on anxiety in Parkinson's disease: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Anxiety and other non-motor symptoms can greatly diminish quality of life in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Yet, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have assessed accessible, non-pharmacological mental health treatments for people with PD. Objective To assess the feasibility and impact of brief, remotely-delivered meditation and breathwork on neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with PD. Methods In this 18-week RCT, intervention participants attended weekly webinars for six weeks, while waitlisted controls maintained their usual routine before crossing over at six weeks. Participants were assessed for weekly compliance trends (primary outcome) and changes in anxiety (primary outcome), depression, perceived stress, and other non-motor symptoms at 6-week intervals: baseline and weeks 6 (T2), 12 (T3), and 18 (T4). Weekly compliance was collected in each group for 12 weeks. Anxiety was measured using the Parkinson's Anxiety Scale. Results There was a significant decrease in the primary outcome, anxiety, in the intervention group (n = 17) compared to the waitlist control (n = 21) after 6 weeks of meditation and breathwork practice (mean difference (MD)= −5.0, 95% CI [−9.5, −0.49], P = .03). Within-group analysis further confirmed a significant reduction in anxiety (MD = −4.7, 95% CI [2.10,7.33], P < .001) in the intervention group (n = 28). Thirty-one percent of participants met the compliance definition. Conclusion Remotely-delivered meditation and breathwork through the BSM program significantly reduced anxiety in individuals with PD in our study and may be a promising non-pharmacological therapy. A larger RCT with continuous wellness coaching is warranted to more rigorously assess efficacy and optimize protocols. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05335850, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05335850