Mindfulness-based stress reduction for treating chronic headache : a systematic review and meta-analysis

ORCID
0000-0001-9310-8077
LSF
60873
Affiliation
Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Anheyer, Dennis;
ORCID
0000-0003-3133-1913
Affiliation
Department of Rural Health, Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Leach, Matthew J.;
Affiliation
1 Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Klose, Petra;
Affiliation
1 Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Dobos, Gustav;
Affiliation
1 Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Cramer, Holger

Background: Mindfulness-based stress reduction/cognitive therapy are frequently used for pain-related conditions, but their effects on headache remain uncertain. This review aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of mindfulness-based stress reduction/cognitive therapy in reducing the symptoms of chronic headache.

Data sources and study selection: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, CENTRAL, and PsychINFO were searched to 16 June 2017. Randomized controlled trials comparing mindfulness-based stress reduction/cognitive therapy with usual care or active comparators for migraine and/or tension-type headache, which assessed headache frequency, duration or intensity as a primary outcome, were eligible for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Tool.

Results: Five randomized controlled trials (two on tension-type headache; one on migraine; two with mixed samples) with a total of 185 participants were included. Compared to usual care, mindfulness-based stress reduction/cognitive therapy did not improve headache frequency (three randomized controlled trials; standardized mean difference = 0.00; 95% confidence interval = −0.33,0.32) or headache duration (three randomized controlled trials; standardized mean difference = −0.08; 95% confidence interval = −1.03,0.87). Similarly, no significant difference between groups was found for pain intensity (five randomized controlled trials; standardized mean difference = −0.78; 95% confidence interval = −1.72,0.16).

Conclusions: Due to the low number, small scale and often high or unclear risk of bias of included randomized controlled trials, the results are imprecise; this may be consistent with either an important or negligible effect. Therefore, more rigorous trials with larger sample sizes are needed.

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© International Headache Society 2018

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