Meditation or Exercise for Preventing Acute Respiratory Infection: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Bruce Barrett; Mary S. Hayney; Daniel Muller; David Rakel; Ann Ward; Chidi N. Obasi; Roger Brown; Zhengjun Zhang; Aleksandra Zgierska; James Gern; Rebecca West; Tola Ewers; Shari Barlow; Michele Gassman; Christopher L. Coe

doi:10.1370/afm.1376

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RE: positive ans negative points meditation and exercise to prevent URI.
Jaisingh Rajput and Prajakta Rajput

Published on: 31 December 2023
Re:Meditation or Excercise for Prevention of ARI
Sumanth Gandra

Published on: 23 August 2012
Great study on Complementary treatments for ARIs
Timothy W Fior

Published on: 18 July 2012

Published on: (31 December 2023)
Page navigation anchor for RE: positive ans negative points meditation and exercise to prevent URI.
RE: positive ans negative points meditation and exercise to prevent URI.
Jaisingh Rajput, Family Medicine physician MD, ABFM
Other Contributors:
Prajakta Rajput, Family Physician MD.
Positive Review
1.The study exhibits a robust design by employing a randomized control trial with a substantial number of participants (n=154) and a high completion rate (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years), adding credibility to the findings.
2.The research addresses a pertinent public health concern by evaluating the preventive effects of meditation and exercise on acute respiratory infections (ARI), providing potential non-pharmacological interventions for a widespread health issue.
3.The use of clear and quantifiable outcomes, such as the area-under-the-curve global illness severity, number of illness days, and days of missed work, enhances the objectivity and applicability of the study's results.
4. The findings indicate a significant reduction in global illness severity for the meditation group compared to the control group (P = .004), supporting the potential effectiveness of meditation in mitigating ARI burden.

Negative Review:
1. The study primarily focuses on adults aged 50 years and older, limiting the generalizability of the findings to a broader population. The efficacy of meditation and exercise on ARI prevention in younger age groups may differ and warrants further investigation.
2.The high completion rate, particularly with a predominantly female and white participant demographic, raises questions about potential selection bias. A more diverse participant pool would enhance the study's exter...
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Positive Review
1.The study exhibits a robust design by employing a randomized control trial with a substantial number of participants (n=154) and a high completion rate (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years), adding credibility to the findings.
2.The research addresses a pertinent public health concern by evaluating the preventive effects of meditation and exercise on acute respiratory infections (ARI), providing potential non-pharmacological interventions for a widespread health issue.
3.The use of clear and quantifiable outcomes, such as the area-under-the-curve global illness severity, number of illness days, and days of missed work, enhances the objectivity and applicability of the study's results.
4. The findings indicate a significant reduction in global illness severity for the meditation group compared to the control group (P = .004), supporting the potential effectiveness of meditation in mitigating ARI burden.

Negative Review:
1. The study primarily focuses on adults aged 50 years and older, limiting the generalizability of the findings to a broader population. The efficacy of meditation and exercise on ARI prevention in younger age groups may differ and warrants further investigation.
2.The high completion rate, particularly with a predominantly female and white participant demographic, raises questions about potential selection bias. A more diverse participant pool would enhance the study's external validity.
3.While the study identifies the effectiveness of meditation and exercise in reducing ARI burden, it falls short in exploring the underlying mechanisms or pathways through which these interventions exert their preventive effects.
4. The abstract briefly mentions virus identification in samples but lacks detailed analysis or differentiation of viral types. A more in-depth examination of viral strains could contribute valuable information to understanding the specific infections affected by meditation and exercise.
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (23 August 2012)
Page navigation anchor for Re:Meditation or Excercise for Prevention of ARI
Re:Meditation or Excercise for Prevention of ARI
Sumanth Gandra, Infectious Disease Fellow
Dear Editor,
I read the article with great interest and I think it is important to clarify some of the questions raised below:
1.I assume that after the 8 week course for meditation and exercise the subjects were suppossed to do daily meditation and moderate intensity exercise for 45minutes until the end of the study period. Reviewing the paper I do not see data about the mean days of meditation or exer...
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Dear Editor,
I read the article with great interest and I think it is important to clarify some of the questions raised below:
1.I assume that after the 8 week course for meditation and exercise the subjects were suppossed to do daily meditation and moderate intensity exercise for 45minutes until the end of the study period. Reviewing the paper I do not see data about the mean days of meditation or exercise and this information is key when we inform our patients. For example during the episodes of illness, were the subjects able to continue meditation or exercise. You can notice from the Table 3, the MET min/wk has dropped from 2,222 to 1,805 by 3 months and whether the trend continued.
2. The study period co-incides with the 2009 H1N1 epidemic and is there any information about subjects vaccination status for 2009 H1N1 outside the study and increased preventive measures by any particular group that can affect the results?
3. As per the protocol, during each ARI illness episode, a nasal wash was collected within 3 days for identification of respiratory viruses. Is there any explanation (Table 2)for missing 7 episodes in exercise group and 5 episodes in control group? Did the subjects violated the protocol?
4. It also useful to know how many subjects in each group had recurrent illness. As you can see from Table 3 the number of participants with ARI were less comapred to number of ARI episodes. This information will clarify if same subjects had recurrent illness which may affect the results.
5. Combining the results of two cohorts may affect the results because the duration of the follow up for these two cohorts are different. Are there any significant differences in the incidence and episodes of ARI between the 2 cohorts.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (18 July 2012)
Page navigation anchor for Great study on Complementary treatments for ARIs
Great study on Complementary treatments for ARIs
Timothy W Fior, Physician
This is another great study showing the usefulness of meditation and exercise in reducing the disease burden for Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs). Both should be considered by family physicians as front line treatment modalities for this and other conditions where evidence shows there effectiveness. This is especially true for ARIs because both of these interventions are safe, cost-effective, and there is little or...
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This is another great study showing the usefulness of meditation and exercise in reducing the disease burden for Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs). Both should be considered by family physicians as front line treatment modalities for this and other conditions where evidence shows there effectiveness. This is especially true for ARIs because both of these interventions are safe, cost-effective, and there is little or no evidence for effectiveness for standard pharmaceuticals in ARIs but lots of evidence of their harm.
Competing interests: None declared
Show Less

Competing Interests: None declared.