Trial Outcomes & Findings for Mindfulness and Neural Cardiovascular Control in Humans (NCT NCT03626363)

NCT ID: NCT03626363

Last Updated: 2024-11-08

Results Overview

Direct recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity from the peroneal nerve using microneurography. Sympathetic bursts that were at least three times higher than baseline noise were evaluated by a trained investigator and quantified as bursts per minute. The investigator was blinded to the condition and whether the data was pre or post until after all data was collected and analyzed.

Recruitment status

COMPLETED

Study phase

NA

Target enrollment

52 participants

Primary outcome timeframe

Data reported is the change in the mean value from before to after the 8 week intervention (i.e. pre to post).

Results posted on

2024-11-08

Participant Flow

We screened 180 potential participants for this study between the fall of 2018 through the fall of 2022.

Participant milestones

Participant milestones
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
An eight week course designed to increase mindfulness and to decrease stress. Participants met with an MBSR expert once each week for 2.5 hours and had at-home practice assignments for 45 minutes per day which included mindfulness, breathing, and gently yoga exercises.
Stress Management Education
An eight week stress education course designed to be an active control for mindfulness-based stress reduction studies. Participants met for 2.5 hours each week to be educated about stress responses, benefits of gentle resistance training, and other topics such as the benefits of volunteering. Participants completed at-home sessions for 45-minutes each day that included reading from "Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers" and they could also perform gentle resistance training with a resistance band kit that was provided.
Overall Study
STARTED
27
25
Overall Study
COMPLETED
18
18
Overall Study
NOT COMPLETED
9
7

Reasons for withdrawal

Reasons for withdrawal
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
An eight week course designed to increase mindfulness and to decrease stress. Participants met with an MBSR expert once each week for 2.5 hours and had at-home practice assignments for 45 minutes per day which included mindfulness, breathing, and gently yoga exercises.
Stress Management Education
An eight week stress education course designed to be an active control for mindfulness-based stress reduction studies. Participants met for 2.5 hours each week to be educated about stress responses, benefits of gentle resistance training, and other topics such as the benefits of volunteering. Participants completed at-home sessions for 45-minutes each day that included reading from "Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers" and they could also perform gentle resistance training with a resistance band kit that was provided.
Overall Study
Protocol Violation
4
0
Overall Study
Lost to Follow-up
5
7

Baseline Characteristics

Obtaining clear recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity is difficult and we cannot always obtain a clear signal with distinct bursts in all participants. Some participants elect not to have this measurement performed because it is invasive and can cause some temporary discomfort.

Baseline characteristics by cohort

Baseline characteristics by cohort
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
n=27 Participants
An eight week course specifically designed to improve mindfulness and to reduce stress.
Stress Management Education
n=25 Participants
An eight week program specifically designed to provide education about stress responses in humans, and as an active control for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction studies.
Total
n=52 Participants
Total of all reporting groups
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
1 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
1 Participants
n=52 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
26 Participants
n=27 Participants
25 Participants
n=25 Participants
51 Participants
n=52 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Age, Continuous
26 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 7 • n=27 Participants
23 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 3 • n=25 Participants
25 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 5 • n=52 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
6 Participants
n=27 Participants
4 Participants
n=25 Participants
10 Participants
n=52 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
21 Participants
n=27 Participants
21 Participants
n=25 Participants
42 Participants
n=52 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
27 Participants
n=27 Participants
25 Participants
n=25 Participants
52 Participants
n=52 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
11 Participants
n=27 Participants
10 Participants
n=25 Participants
21 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
1 Participants
n=27 Participants
1 Participants
n=25 Participants
2 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
15 Participants
n=27 Participants
14 Participants
n=25 Participants
29 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
0 Participants
n=27 Participants
0 Participants
n=25 Participants
0 Participants
n=52 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
27 participants
n=27 Participants
25 participants
n=25 Participants
52 participants
n=52 Participants
muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA)
19.6 bursts per minute
STANDARD_DEVIATION 8.8 • n=18 Participants • Obtaining clear recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity is difficult and we cannot always obtain a clear signal with distinct bursts in all participants. Some participants elect not to have this measurement performed because it is invasive and can cause some temporary discomfort.
17.7 bursts per minute
STANDARD_DEVIATION 5.9 • n=14 Participants • Obtaining clear recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity is difficult and we cannot always obtain a clear signal with distinct bursts in all participants. Some participants elect not to have this measurement performed because it is invasive and can cause some temporary discomfort.
18.8 bursts per minute
STANDARD_DEVIATION 7.6 • n=32 Participants • Obtaining clear recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity is difficult and we cannot always obtain a clear signal with distinct bursts in all participants. Some participants elect not to have this measurement performed because it is invasive and can cause some temporary discomfort.
Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (arterial stiffness)
5.55 meters per second
STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.81 • n=27 Participants
5.38 meters per second
STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.82 • n=25 Participants
5.47 meters per second
STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.81 • n=52 Participants
Nocturnal systolic blood pressure dipping (%)
12.65 Percent dipping vs. wakefulness average
STANDARD_DEVIATION 7.13 • n=20 Participants • We have only included participants with more than 80% successful wake and sleep measurements of ambulatory blood pressure. Three readings an hour were taken during wakefulness and two readings per hour were taken during sleep. Some participants did not keep the ambulatory monitor on during the entire recording period and others did not have the required percentage of successful recordings.
12.66 Percent dipping vs. wakefulness average
STANDARD_DEVIATION 4.69 • n=15 Participants • We have only included participants with more than 80% successful wake and sleep measurements of ambulatory blood pressure. Three readings an hour were taken during wakefulness and two readings per hour were taken during sleep. Some participants did not keep the ambulatory monitor on during the entire recording period and others did not have the required percentage of successful recordings.
12.66 Percent dipping vs. wakefulness average
STANDARD_DEVIATION 6.12 • n=35 Participants • We have only included participants with more than 80% successful wake and sleep measurements of ambulatory blood pressure. Three readings an hour were taken during wakefulness and two readings per hour were taken during sleep. Some participants did not keep the ambulatory monitor on during the entire recording period and others did not have the required percentage of successful recordings.

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: Data reported is the change in the mean value from before to after the 8 week intervention (i.e. pre to post).

Population: We had 21 participants in the spring of 2020 with excellent success on baseline nerve recordings, but with COVID-19 restrictions we were not allowed to bring any participants into the laboratory for post testing. This resulted in the limited sample size of 5 participants in each arm with excellent muscle sympathetic nerve recordings both before and after the 8-week interventions.

Direct recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity from the peroneal nerve using microneurography. Sympathetic bursts that were at least three times higher than baseline noise were evaluated by a trained investigator and quantified as bursts per minute. The investigator was blinded to the condition and whether the data was pre or post until after all data was collected and analyzed.

Outcome measures

Outcome measures
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
n=5 Participants
An eight week course specifically designed to improve mindfulness and to reduce stress.
Stress Management Education
n=5 Participants
An eight week program specifically designed to provide education about stress responses in humans, and as an active control for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction studies.
Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity
-2 bursts per minute
Standard Error 2
-1 bursts per minute
Standard Error 2

SECONDARY outcome

Timeframe: Data reported is the change in the mean value from before to after the 8 week intervention (i.e. pre to post).

Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity using applanation tonometry. A SphygmoCor system was used to gait pulse waves from a tonometer to the R-wave of a 3-lead ECG and carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity was evaluated in meters per second. A higher value indicates more arterial stiffness in the aorta, and a lower value indicates less stiffness in the aorta.

Outcome measures

Outcome measures
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
n=10 Participants
An eight week course specifically designed to improve mindfulness and to reduce stress.
Stress Management Education
n=12 Participants
An eight week program specifically designed to provide education about stress responses in humans, and as an active control for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction studies.
Arterial Stiffness
-0.04 meters per second
Standard Deviation 0.94
-0.31 meters per second
Standard Deviation 0.72

OTHER_PRE_SPECIFIED outcome

Timeframe: Data reported is the change in the mean value from before to after the 8 week intervention (i.e. pre to post).

Population: Repeated measures analysis of variance with 2 groups (MBSR and SME) and 2 time points (pre vs. post). Outcome data reported is the change in the mean nighttime systolic blood pressure dipping from pre to post as a percentage. We had 21 participants in the spring of 2020 that we were not allowed to bring into the laboratory for post-testing due to COVID-19 restrictions. We were only able to have participants in that largest cohort complete questionnaire data.

Change in systolic nocturnal blood pressure during sleep when compared to wakefulness. We used ambulatory blood pressure monitors set to record blood pressures every 30 minutes while the participant was sleeping and every 20 minutes while they were awake for a 24-hour period once before and once after the 8-week intervention. Values reported are the percentage of systolic arterial pressure dipping during sleep compared to wakefulness before vs. after the 8 week intervention.

Outcome measures

Outcome measures
Measure
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
n=3 Participants
An eight week course specifically designed to improve mindfulness and to reduce stress.
Stress Management Education
n=4 Participants
An eight week program specifically designed to provide education about stress responses in humans, and as an active control for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction studies.
Nocturnal Blood Pressure Dip
-3 percent dipping
Standard Error 5
1 percent dipping
Standard Error 6

Adverse Events

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Serious events: 0 serious events
Other events: 0 other events
Deaths: 0 deaths

Stress Management Education

Serious events: 0 serious events
Other events: 0 other events
Deaths: 0 deaths

Serious adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Other adverse events

Adverse event data not reported

Additional Information

Kelly Kallio, Assistant Vice President of Sponsored Programs

Michigan Technological University

Phone: 9064872226

Results disclosure agreements

  • Principal investigator is a sponsor employee
  • Publication restrictions are in place