Meditation or exercise for preventing acute respiratory infection: a randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to evaluate potential preventive effects of meditation or exercise on incidence, duration, and severity of acute respiratory infection (ARI) illness.


METHODS
Community-recruited adults aged 50 years and older were randomized to 1 of 3 study groups: 8-week training in mindfulness meditation, matched 8-week training in moderate-intensity sustained exercise, or observational control. The primary outcome was area-under-the-curve global illness severity during a single cold and influenza season, using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24) to assess severity. Health care visits and days of missed work were counted. Nasal wash collected during ARI illness was assayed for neutrophils, interleukin-8, and viral nucleic acid.


RESULTS
Of 154 adults randomized into the study, 149 completed the trial (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years). There were 27 ARI episodes and 257 days of ARI illness in the meditation group (n = 51), 26 episodes and 241 illness days in the exercise group (n = 47), and 40 episodes and 453 days in the control group (n = 51). Mean global severity was 144 for meditation, 248 for exercise, and 358 for control. Compared with control, global severity was significantly lower for meditation (P = .004). Both global severity and total days of illness (duration) trended toward being lower for the exercise group (P=.16 and P=.032, respectively), as did illness duration for the meditation group (P=.034). Adjusting for covariates using zero-inflated multivariate regression models gave similar results. There were 67 ARI-related days of-work missed in the control group, 32 in the exercise group (P = .041), and 16 in the meditation group (P <.001). Health care visits did not differ significantly. Viruses were identified in 54% of samples from meditation, 42% from exercise, and 54% from control groups. Neutrophil count and interleukin-8 levels were similar among intervention groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Training in meditation or exercise may be effective in reducing ARI illness burden.
Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1100 Delaplaine Ct, Madison, WI 53715, USA. bruce.barrett@fammed.wisc.edu
Bruce
B
Barrett
Mary S
MS
Hayney
Daniel
D
Muller
David
D
Rakel
Ann
A
Ward
Chidi N
CN
Obasi
Roger
R
Brown
Zhengjun
Z
Zhang
Aleksandra
A
Zgierska
James
J
Gern
Rebecca
R
West
Tola
T
Ewers
Shari
S
Barlow
Michele
M
Gassman
Christopher L
CL
Coe
D000208:Acute Disease; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003139:Common Cold; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological