Mindfulness-Based Therapies in the Treatment of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics and outcomes of studies included in systematic review.

Study	, % female	Population	Intervention & duration	Control	Follow-up	IBS severity at end-of-intervention	IBS severity at follow-up	Quality of life
Berrill et al. 2014 [14]	38, 77%	IBD with IBS-type symptoms	MCT; 16 weeks	Waiting list (TAU)	8 and 12 months	Decrease in IBS-SS but did not reach statistical significance (32.5% vs. 6.8% reduction, )	Decrease in IBS-SS but did not reach statistical significance (30.0% vs. 0% reduction, )	Not assessed
Gaylord et al. 2011 [15]	75, 100%	IBS	Mindfulness-based stress and pain management program; 8 weeks	Support group	3 months	Significantly greater improvement in IBS-SS (26.4 vs. 6.2% reduction, )	Improvement maintained (38.2 vs. 11.8% reduction, )	Significant improvement in IBS-QOL at follow-up only ()
Ljtsson et al. 2010 [16]	85, 85%	IBS	ICBT, 10 weeks	Online closed discussion forum	3 months	Significant improvement in diary symptom ratings (pain, diarrhea, constipation, and bloating) and GSRS-IBS (42% reduction vs. 12% increase, )	Improvement in GSRS-IBS maintained	Significant improvement in IBS-QOL post treatment (); further significant improvement at follow-up ()
Ljtsson et al. 2011 [17]	Long term follow-up of Ljtsson et al. (2010) [16]				15–18 (mean = 16.4) months		Improvement in GSRS-IBS maintained ()	Significant improvement in IBS-QOL (), maintained at follow-up; no difference between those who did/did not seek additional care for IBS
Ljtsson et al. 2011 [18]	61, 74%	IBS	ICBT, 10 weeks	Online closed discussion forum before crossing over	12 months	Significantly larger improvement in GSRS-IBS (30.5% reduction vs. 2.8% increase) (Cohen’s 0.77 (0.19–1.34 95% CI))	Improvement in GSRS-IBS maintained	Significantly greater improvement in IBS-QOL (Cohen’s 0.79 (0.20–1.35 95% CI)); further improvement at follow-up ()
Ljtsson et al. 2011 [19]	195, 79%	IBS	ICBT, 10 weeks	Internet-based stress management	6 months	Significantly larger improvement in GSRS-IBS (23.6% vs. 13.1% reduction) (difference in score of 4.8 (1.2–8.4 95% CI))	Significantly larger improvement in GSRS-IBS (difference in score of 5.9 (1.9–9.9 95% CI)); nonsignificant trend towards continued improvement	Significantly larger improvement in IBS-QOL (difference in score of 10 (4.5–15.6 95% CI)), maintained at follow-up (difference in score of 6.2 (0.2–12.2 95% CI))
Zernicke et al. 2013 [20]	90, 90%	IBS	MBSR; 8 weeks	TAU waitlist	6 months	Significantly greater improvement in IBS-SS (30.7 vs. 5.2% reduction among completers, 16.9% vs. 3.5% using ITT)	Improvement maintained; some improvement seen in TAU group leading to no statistically significant difference ()	IBS-QOL improved in both groups posttreatment and follow-up ()
Zomorodi et al. 2014 [21]	48, 44%	IBS and healthy controls	MBSR or CBT, 8 weeks	No psychological intervention	2 months	Not provided	Significantly greater improvement in IBS questionnaire vs. CBT or control (35.0% vs. 5.8%, )	Not assessed

GSRS-IBS: gastrointestinal symptom rating scale—IBS version.
ICBT: internet-based cognitive behavior therapy which includes exposure, mindfulness, and acceptance.
IBS-SS: irritable bowel syndrome severity score.
IBDQ: inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire.
IBS-QOL: irritable bowel syndrome quality of life instrument.
MCT: multiconvergent therapy-combination of mindfulness meditation and CBT.
MBSR: mindfulness-based stress reduction.
TAU: treatment as usual.