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Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

NCT number NCT01251341
Other study ID # 5R01AT004698
Secondary ID
Status Completed
Phase N/A
First received November 30, 2010
Last updated December 4, 2014
Start date September 2009
Est. completion date May 2014

Study information

Verified date December 2014
Source University of Arizona
Contact n/a
Is FDA regulated No
Health authority United States: Institutional Review Board
Study type Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The increasingly widespread use of meditation for stress-related emotional and medical conditions highlights the urgent need to rigorously evaluate mechanisms through which the benefits of practice might be conferred. Primary challenges in this regard include evaluating dose response relationships between practice time and outcomes; clarifying whether physiological and behavioral effects of meditation derive primarily from non-specific aspects of training or result from specific meditation practices; and identifying molecular mechanisms by which meditation might affect physiological responses relevant to stress-related illness. Recent findings from a cross-sectional study by our group indicate that young adults who are randomized to, and practice, compassion meditation demonstrate reduced inflammatory responses, less emotional distress, and reduced autonomic responses to a standardized laboratory psychosocial stressor (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) when compared to subjects randomized to an active control condition. However, as a result of the cross-sectional study design and lack of a meditation comparator arm, these results provide only partial insight into key issues outlined above regarding the role played by specific meditation procedures and/or practice time in observed physiological and behavioral outcomes. The primary hypothesis of the proposed work is that practicing a meditation procedure specifically designed to enhance empathic concern for others (i.e. compassion meditation) will optimize autonomic reactivity to psychosocial stress in a manner that results in diminished activation of peripheral inflammatory signaling pathways and reduced behavioral distress.


Recruitment information / eligibility

Status Completed
Enrollment 226
Est. completion date May 2014
Est. primary completion date May 2014
Accepts healthy volunteers Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Gender Both
Age group 25 Years to 55 Years
Eligibility Inclusion Criteria:

- Good medical health

Exclusion Criteria:

- current major depression

- current substance abuse

- lifetime history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder type I as assessed by the Structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV (SCID)

- suicidal ideation or suicide attempt within one year of study enrollment

- diagnosis of any serious ongoing medical condition including malignancy, auto-immune disease (i.e. rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease), cardiovascular disease (other than hypertension), seizure disorder, endocrinopathy, chronic infection (i.e. human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B or C), renal or hepatic insufficiency, or any other current or past medical or psychiatric condition that might increase the risk of study participation in the opinion of study personnel

- treatment with psychotropic medications within the last year (i.e. antidepressants, anxiolytics, psychostimulants or mood stabilizers)

- active ongoing psychiatric treatment at the time of enrollment.

- use of any psychotropic medication (i.e. antidepressants, anxiolytics, psychostimulants or mood stabilizers) within one year of screening.

- chronic use of anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive agents, including, but not limited to, aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, COX-2 inhibitors, corticosteroids, etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab or methotrexate.

- any significant past meditation training/experience (defined as meditating more than 3 times a week for a period longer than a month)

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Prevention


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


Intervention

Behavioral:
Cognitive-Based Compassion Training
Eight-week training in compassion meditation, using a protocol developed by Geshe Lobsang Negi, Ph.D. of Emory University
Mindful Attention Training
Eight week training in mindful attention, using a protocol developed by B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D.
Adult Health Education Curriculum
Eight week training in health and wellness, using a curriculum developed specifically for this study.

Locations

Country Name City State
United States Emory University Atlanta Georgia

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor Collaborator
University of Arizona Emory University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type Measure Description Time frame Safety issue
Primary Effects of compassion meditation on inflammatory and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress using a longitudinal design. Innate immune cytokine responses will be assessed before and after a psychosocial stressor to evaluate the differential impact of the two interventions and the active control. Five years No
See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT01643369 - The Sounds of Compassion: Testing How Specific Elements of Meditation Change Daily Life N/A
Recruiting NCT01132859 - VRC 900: Evaluation of Tissue-Specific Immune Responses in Adults 18 Years of Age and Older