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Positive Impacts of a Four-Week Neuro-Meditation Program on Cognitive Function in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

International journal of environmental research and public health
January 1, 1970
Christophe Hausswirth et al. (4 authors)
Randomized Controlled TrialJournal ArticleHuman StudyClinical
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a neuro-meditation program (Rebalance®) in reducing cognitive impairment and improving mental health in long COVID patients.

Results Summary

The Rebalance® program improved cognitive performance (especially reaction time-based tasks), reduced mental and physical fatigue, and enhanced mood, sleep quality, and pain symptoms in long COVID patients compared to controls.

Population

34 long COVID patients (intervention and control groups) and 15 healthy participants (normative group).

Effective Dosage

Ten 30-minute sessions over five weeks.

Duration

Five weeks.

Interactions

None mentioned.

Extracted Claims (11)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
Rebalance® program
increase
all the subjective reports
long COVID patients
-
improved
#1
Rebalance® program
increase
cognitive performances
long COVID patients
-
improved
#2
Rebalance® program
decrease
reaction times in the choice reaction time task
G-Int group
593 ± 121 ms vs. 521 ± 86 ms
shortened
#3
Rebalance® program
decrease
reaction times in the Simon task
G-Int group
539 ± 123 ms vs. 494 ± 134 ms
shortened
#4
Rebalance® program
decrease
reaction times in the pattern comparison tasks
G-Int group
1244 ± 315 ms vs. 1079 ± 213 ms
shortened
#5
neuro-meditation
decrease
cognitive impairment
long COVID patients
-
reduces
#6
neuro-meditation
increase
physical and mental fatigue
long COVID patients
-
improves
#7
neuro-meditation
increase
muscle and joint pain
long COVID patients
-
improves
#8
neuro-meditation
increase
symptoms of depression and anxiety
long COVID patients
-
improves
#9
neuro-meditation
increase
mood disturbances
long COVID patients
-
improves
#10
neuro-meditation
increase
sleep quality
long COVID patients
-
improves
#11
Abstract

Study objective: Long COVID patients can experience high levels of impairment in their cognitive function and mental health. Using a parallel randomized control trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of a neuro-meditation program to reduce cognitive impairment in patients with long COVID. Methods: A total of 34 patients with long COVID were randomized to an intervention group (G-Int; n = 17) or a control group (G-Con; n = 17) and 15 healthy participants were constitutive of a normative group (G-Nor). The intervention consisted of ten 30-min sessions of Rebalance® over a period of five weeks. Each session included sound therapy and coach-guided meditation associated with light stimulations (i.e., chromotherapy). Primary outcomes were performance on five computerized cognitive tasks (choice response time, pattern comparison, Simon, pursuit rotor task, and Corsi block-tapping task), mental and physical fatigue (Chalder fatigue scale), perceived stress (perceived stress scale) and mood (profiles of mood states). Secondary outcomes were anxiety and depressive symptoms (hospital anxiety and depression scale), muscular pain, joint pain, and headaches using visual analog scales (VAS) as well as sleep quality (Spiegel sleep questionnaire). Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 1−2 and 7−8 days of follow-up. Results: Compared to healthy subjects, long COVID patients showed significant differences at baseline on all the self-report questionnaires, and a Rebalance® program improved all the subjective reports, as well as cognitive performances, especially on reaction time-based tasks. In particular, only the G-Int group revealed shortened reaction times in the choice reaction time (RTbaseline = 593 ± 121 ms vs. RTpost2 = 521 ± 86 ms, p < 0.001), Simon (RTbaseline = 539 ± 123 ms vs. RTpost2 = 494 ± 134 ms, p < 0.01), and pattern comparison tasks (RTbaseline = 1244 ± 315 ms vs. RTpost2 = 1079 ± 213 ms, p < 0.001). Conclusions) Initial evidence suggests that neuro-meditation reduces cognitive impairment and improves physical and mental fatigue, muscle and joint pain, symptoms of depression and anxiety, mood disturbances as well as sleep quality. The Rebalance® program hence constitutes a promising non-pharmacological intervention for the treatment of long-term psychological/cognitive outcomes of COVID-19.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
HumansQuality of LifeMeditationDepressionPost-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeCOVID-19Cognition
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality75/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations29
Citations/Year14.5
Relative Citation Ratio7.82
NIH Percentile96.7%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score1.72
Normalized Score0.69
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