The effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in inflammatory bowel disease: A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis

Background: Mental health has been identified as contributing to the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Resultingly, psychotherapeutic interventions, such as Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI), have been increasingly investigated for improving IBD outcomes. Objectives: To systematically review the current state of evidence of MBI's for individuals living with IBD. Methods: We performed a systematic review searching Medline, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane and Scopus, to identify controlled clinical trials, investigating MBI's for various IBD biopsychosocial outcomes. Data was pooled using the inverse-variance random effects model, with restricted maximum likelihood estimation, providing the standardized mean difference (SMD) between control and experimental groups, at both short and long-term follow up. Results: We identified 8 studies with 575 participants. Meta-analytic results found that MBI's were more efficacious than control groups in the short-term improvement of stress (SMD = −0.38, 95% CI [−0.65, −0.10], p = 0.007), mindfulness (SMD = 0.59, 95% CI [0.36, 0.83], p = 0.00001), C-Reactive Protein (CRP) (SMD = −0.25, 95% CI [−0.49, −0.01], p = 0.04) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (SMD = 0.45, 95% CI [0.24, 0.66], p = 0.0001) (including all emotional, bowel, social and systemic subscales). This was maintained in the long-term for stress (SMD = −0.44, 95% CI [−0.88, −0.01], p < 0.05) and mindfulness (SMD = 0.52, 95% CI [0.14, 0.90], p = 0.008), but not for HRQoL, with no long-term data available for CRP. Conclusions: Given that MBI's appear to be effective in improving several IBD outcomes, they may be a useful adjuvant therapy in wholistic IBD care, with further trials warranted.