A randomized controlled trial of the effects of brief mindfulness meditation on anxiety symptoms and systolic blood pressure in Chinese nursing students.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Randomized controlled trial comparing brief mindfulness meditation against an inactive control.
PubMed 23260618 · doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2012.11.014
What was done
Sixty Chinese nursing students at a medical university in Guangzhou were randomized to either a mindfulness meditation group (n=30; 30 minutes daily for 7 consecutive days) or a control group receiving no intervention (n=30). Pre- and post-treatment outcomes included the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, heart rate, and blood pressure, analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA.
What was found
Differences between pre- and post-treatment Self-Rating Anxiety Scale scores were significantly larger in the meditation group than in controls, with moderate baseline anxiety associated with the largest effect. Systolic blood pressure was reduced significantly more in the meditation group, with an average reduction of 2.2 mmHg. No significant effect was observed for Self-Rating Depression Scale scores. Numerical values for anxiety scores, depression scores, and heart rate were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
This indicates that a brief, 7-day mindfulness intervention can acutely lower systolic blood pressure and self-reported anxiety symptoms in nursing trainees.
Limits
Small sample size (n=60) from a single institution, limited generalizability beyond Chinese nursing students, brief 7-day intervention with no long-term follow-up, lack of an active control group to account for non-specific effects, and omission of detailed numerical data for several outcomes in the abstract.