Mindfulness-Based Intervention Effect on the Psychophysiological Marker of Self-Regulation in Women With Endometriosis-Related Chronic Pain.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to examine the effect of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) on attention and autonomic nervous system regulation in women with endometriosis-related pain, and explore its interaction with affective pain.
Results Summary
The study found that bMBI significantly improved attention (Flanker accuracy and reaction time) and autonomic regulation (increased vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability at rest and recovery). Attention improvements mediated the effect of bMBI on affective pain reduction.
Population
Women with endometriosis-related pain.
Effective Dosage
Not specified.
Duration
Not specified.
Interactions
None mentioned.
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | increase | Flanker accuracy | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | significantly improved | #1 |
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | decrease | Flanker reaction time | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | significantly improved | #2 |
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | decrease | Stroop reaction time | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | significantly improved | #3 |
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | increase | vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability (vmHRV) at rest | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | significantly increased | #4 |
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | increase | vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability (vmHRV) at recovery after cognitive stress | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | significantly increased | #5 |
brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) | increase | affective pain improvement | women with endometriosis-related pain | - | mediated the effect on | #6 |
Endometriosis is a gynecological disease that involves a broad biopsychosocial compromise with the potential to create a negative vicious cycle. Despite the complexity of factors influencing women's improvement, most interventions investigated target just the peripheral nociceptive sources of endometriosis-related pain. An alternative is intervening in self-regulation, which can potentially influence multiple domains of the illness experience. The present study examines the effect of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (bMBI) on attention and autonomic nervous system regulation in women with endometriosis-related pain. Also, explore the interaction between these self-regulation domains and the affective pain dimension. An exploratory analysis of the secondary outcomes of a pilot randomized controlled trial was performed. The vagally-mediated Heart Rate Variability (vmHRV) at rest, cognitive stress, and recovery was employed to measure autonomic regulation. The Flanker and Stroop tasks were used to estimate the attention domains. Results showed that bMBI (n = 26) significantly improved Flanker accuracy and Flanker and Stroop reaction time compared to the control group (n = 28). bMBI significantly increased vmHRV at rest and recovery after cognitive stress. Attention mediated the bMBI effect on affective pain improvement. Results suggest that bMBI improves self-regulation domains with the potential to develop a broad biopsychosocial benefit in the endometriosis context. PERSPECTIVE: This article demonstrates the positive impact of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention on attention and parasympathetic regulation in women suffering from endometriosis-related pain. This mindfulness-induced self-regulation improvement can benefit affective pain and potentially multiple psychophysiological processes relevant to endometriosis.