Impact of a Stress Reduction, Meditation, and Mindfulness Program in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Heart Failure is a significant public health problem leading to a high burden of physical and psychological symptoms despite optimized therapy. Objective: To evaluate primarily the impact of a Stress Reduction, Meditation, and Mindfulness Program on stress reduction of patients with Heart Failure. Methods: A randomized and controlled clinical trial assessed the effect of a stress reduction program compared to conventional multidisciplinary care in two specialized centers in Brazil. The data collection period took place between April and October 2019. Thirty-eight patients were included and allocated to the intervention or control groups. The intervention took place over 8 weeks. The protocol assessed the scales of perceived stress, depression, quality of life, anxiety, mindfulness, quality of sleep, a 6-minute walk test, and biomarkers analyzed by a blinded team, considering a p-value <0.05 statistically significant. Results: The intervention resulted in a significant reduction in perceived stress from 22.8 ± 4.3 to 14.3 ± 3.8 points in the perceived stress scale-14 items in the intervention group vs. 23.9 ± 4.3 to 25.8 ± 5.4 in the control group (p-value<0.001). A significant improvement in quality of life (p-value=0.013), mindfulness (p-value=0.041), quality of sleep (p-value<0.001), and the 6-minute walk test (p-value=0.004) was also observed in the group under intervention in comparison with the control. Conclusion: The Stress Reduction, Meditation, and Mindfulness Program effectively reduced perceived stress and improved clinical outcomes in patients with chronic Heart Failure.