Movement-based mind-body interventions for cardiac rehabilitation: An updated systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

This study aimed to assess evidence for the effect of movement-based mind-body interventions (MMBIs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Six databases were searched from January 1995 to September 2020. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluated the effect of MMBIs on heart disease (HD) patients' physical and psychological outcomes. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of all the included studies using the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for RCTs. Sixteen RCTs (5160 participants) published between 1996 and 2020 met all inclusion criteria. In total, these studies investigated the effect of MMBIs for CR. Outcome measures that emerged in these studies included physical and psychological, and/or biochemical parameters to comprehensively evaluate the effects of MMBIs on HD patients. Overall, these studies suggest that MMBIs seem to be an alternative with the optimal CR option.