Anxiety (Panic)/DepressionCancerStressYoga

Review: Benefits of yoga in people with cancer

Researchers at National Taiwan University, in Taipei, conducted a meta-analysis on the effects of yoga in patients with cancer.

First, the details.

  • 10 articles were selected.
  • PEDro scores ranged from 4 to 7 on a scale of 10.

And, the results.

  • When compared to waitlist control groups or supportive therapy groups, the yoga groups showed significantly greater improvements in psychological health: anxiety, depression, distress, and stress.

The bottom line?

The authors concluded, “Due to the mixed and low-to-fair quality and small number of studies conducted, the findings are preliminary and limited and should be confirmed through higher-quality, randomized controlled trials.”

Using PEDro, studies are evaluated based on “believability” (or “internal validity”) of the study and whether the study contains sufficient statistical information to make it interpretable. It does not rate the “meaningfulness” (or “generalizability” or “external validity”) of the trial, or the size of the treatment effect.

4/1/11 22:12 JR

Hi, I’m JR

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.