Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on quality of life of breast cancer patient: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Xiaohui Wang, Zhicheng Dai, Xinying Zhu, Yu Li, Limin Ma, Xinghui Cui, Tongxia Zhan
PloS one January 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306643
Summary
Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy significantly enhances the quality of life for breast cancer patients. In a meta-analysis involving 1,644 participants across 11 trials, this therapy reduced perceived stress by an average of 1.46 points and depression by 1.84 points on standardized scales. Anxiety levels dropped by 2.81 points, while fear of recurrence decreased by 1.27 points. Additionally, mindfulness practices improved coping ability and emotional states, demonstrating clear benefits over standard care for managing negative emotions associated with breast cancer.
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy that occurs in women. Due to the pain caused by the disease itself and the adverse reactions in the treatment process, breast cancer patients are prone to anxiety, depression, fear of recurrence, and other negative emotions, which seriously affect the quality of life. As a systematic stress reduction therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction is widely applied to the treatment of breast cancer patients and has been found by a growing number of studies to relieve stress, regulate mood, and improve the state. However, due to the absence of recent research and uniform outcome measures, previous studies have failed to fully explain the role of mindfulness-based stress reduction in improving the quality of life in breast cancer patients. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate and compare the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy and standard care on the quality of life and psychological status of breast cancer patients. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China's National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials up to July 2023 to identify candidate randomized clinical trials addressing the values of mindfulness-based stress reduction in breast cancer patients. A total of 1644 patients participated in 11 randomized controlled trials. The results of the meta-analysis showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy can significantly reduce negative emotions such as perceived stress (MD = -1.46, 95%CI = -2.53 to -0.38, p = 0.03), depression (MD = -1.84, 95%CI = -3.99 to -0.30, p = 0.0004), anxiety (MD = -2.81, 95%CI = -5.31 to -0.32, p = 0.002), and fear of recurrence (MD = -1.27, 95%CI = -3.44 to 0.90, p = 0.0004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy also has certain advantages in improving the coping ability (MD = 1.26, 95%CI = -3.23 to5.76, p = 0.03) and the emotional state (MD = -7.73, 95%CI = -27.34 to 11.88, p = 0.0007) of patients with breast cancer. Our analyses support that, compared with standard care, mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy can significantly improve patients' coping ability, reduce adverse emotions and improve patients' emotional states.