Impact of yoga on blood pressure and quality of life in patients with hypertension – a controlled trial in primary care, matched for systolic blood pressure

BMC Cardiovascular Disorders

Patrik Midlöv¹  Sara Larsson Lönn¹  Kristina Sundquist²  Moa Wolff¹ 

[1] Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Jan Waldenströms gata 35, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö 205 02, Sweden;Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

关键词: Complementary therapies;    Primary health care;    Quality of life;    Yoga;    Hypertension;   

Others  :  855954
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2261-13-111

 received in 2013-08-21, accepted in 2013-12-03,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Medical treatment of hypertension is not always sufficient to achieve blood pressure control. Despite this, previous studies on supplementary therapies, such as yoga, are relatively few. We investigated the effects of two yoga interventions on blood pressure and quality of life in patients in primary health care diagnosed with hypertension.

Methods

Adult patients (age 20–80 years) with diagnosed hypertension were identified by an electronic chart search at a primary health care center in southern Sweden. In total, 83 subjects with blood pressure values of 120–179/≤109 mmHg at baseline were enrolled. At baseline, the patients underwent standardized blood pressure measurement at the health care center and they completed a questionnaire on self-rated quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). There were three groups: 1) yoga class with yoga instructor (n = 28); 2) yoga at home (n = 28); and 3) a control group (n = 27). The participants were matched at the group level for systolic blood pressure. After 12 weeks of intervention, the assessments were performed again. At baseline a majority of the patients (92%) were on antihypertensive medication, and the patients were requested not to change their medication during the study.

Results

The yoga class group showed no improvement in blood pressure or self-rated quality of life, while in the yoga at home group there was a decline in diastolic blood pressure of 4.4 mmHg (p < 0.05) compared to the control group. Moreover, the yoga at home group showed significant improvement in self-rated quality of life compared to the control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

A short yoga program for the patient to practice at home seems to have an antihypertensive effect, as well as a positive effect on self-rated quality of life compared to controls. This implies that simple yoga exercises may be useful as a supplementary blood pressure therapy in addition to medical treatment when prescribed by primary care physicians.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01302535)

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Wolff et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Kearney PM, Whelton M, Reynolds K, Muntner P, Whelton PK, He J: Global burden of hypertension: analysis of worldwide data. Lancet 2005, 365:217-223.
• [2]Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care. Moderately Elevated BloodPressure. 2013. [http://www.sbu.se/upload/Publikationer/Content0/1/Blodtryck_2004/Hypertoni_vol2.pdf webcite] (Published October 2004). Accessed October 16
• [3]National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Clinical management of primary hypertension in adults. NICE Clinical Guideline 2011. 2013. [http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/13561/56008/56008.pdf webcite] (Published August 2011). Accessed October 6
• [4]World Hypertension League: Economics of hypertension control. Bull World Health Organ 1995, 73:417-424.
• [5]Kjeldsen SE, Naditch-Brule L, Perlini S, Zidek W, Farsang C: Increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome in uncontrolled hypertension across Europe: the Global Cardiometabolic Risk Profile in Patients with hypertension disease survey. J Hypertens 2008, 26:2064-2070.
• [6]Cohen DL, Bloedon LT, Rothman RL, Farrar JT, Galantino ML, Volger S, Mayor C, Szapary PO, Townsend RR: Iyengar Yoga versus Enhanced Usual Care on Blood Pressure in Patients with Prehypertension to Stage I Hypertension: a Randomized Controlled Trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2011, 2011:546428.
• [7]Mourya M, Mahajan AS, Singh NP, Jain AK: Effect of slow- and fast-breathing exercises on autonomic functions in patients with essential hypertension. J Altern Complement Med 2009, 15:711-717.
• [8]Cade WT, Reeds DN, Mondy KE, Overton ET, Grassino J, Tucker S, Bopp C, Laciny E, Hubert S, Lassa-Claxton S, Yarasheski KE: Yoga lifestyle intervention reduces blood pressure in HIV-infected adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors. HIV Med 2010, 11:379-388.
• [9]Subramanian H, Soudarssanane MB, Jayalakshmy R, Thiruselvakumar D, Navasakthi D, Sahai A, Saptharishi L: Non-pharmacological Interventions in Hypertension: A Community-based Cross-over Randomized Controlled Trial. Indian J Community Med 2011, 36:191-196.
• [10]Oken BS, Zajdel D, Kishiyama S, Flegal K, Dehen C, Haas M, Kraemer DF, Lawrence J, Leyva J: Randomized, controlled, six-month trial of yoga in healthy seniors: effects on cognition and quality of life. Altern Ther Health Med 2006, 12:40-47.
• [11]Moadel AB, Shah C, Wylie-Rosett J, Harris MS, Patel SR, Hall CB, Sparano JA: Randomized controlled trial of yoga among a multiethnic sample of breast cancer patients: effects on quality of life. J Clin Oncol 2007, 25:4387-4395.
• [12]Sharma R, Gupta N, Bijlani RL: Effect of yoga based lifestyle intervention on subjective well-being. Ind J Physiol Pharmacol 2008, 52:123-131.
• [13]WHO: WHOQOL-BREF Introduction, administration, scoring and generic version of the assessment. 2013. http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/76.pdf webcite
• [14]IMY - MediYoga. 2013. [http://www.medicinskyoga.se/ webcite] (accessed 21 August)
• [15]Pickering TG, Hall JE, Appel LJ, Falkner BE, Graves J, Hill MN, Jones DW, Kurtz T, Sheps SG, Roccella EJ: Recommendations for blood pressure measurement in humans and experimental animals: Part 1: blood pressure measurement in humans: a statement for professionals from the Subcommittee of Professional and Public Education of the American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure Research. Hypertension 2005, 45:142-161.
• [16]Saptharishi L, Soudarssanane M, Thiruselvakumar D, Navasakthi D, Mathanraj S, Karthigeyan M, Sahai A: Community-based Randomized Controlled Trial of Non-pharmacological Interventions in Prevention and Control of Hypertension among Young Adults. Indian J Community Med 2009, 34:329-334.
• [17]Patel CH: Yoga and bio-feedback in the management of hypertension. Lancet 1973, 2:1053-1055.
• [18]McCaffrey R, Ruknui P, Hatthakit U, Kasetsomboon P: The effects of yoga on hypertensive persons in Thailand. Holist Nurs Pract 2005, 19:173-180.
• [19]Agte VV, Jahagirdar MU, Tarwadi KV: The effects of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga on some physiological and biochemical parameters in mild hypertensive patients. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2011, 55:183-187.
• [20]Murthy SN, Rao NS, Nandkumar B, Kadam A: Role of naturopathy and yoga treatment in the management of hypertension. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2011, 17:9-12.
• [21]Kaptchuk TJ, Kelley JM, Conboy LA, Davis RB, Kerr CE, Jacobson EE, Schyner RN, Nam BH, Nguyen LT, Park M, Rivers AL, McManus C, Kokkotou E, Drossman DA, Goldman P, Lembo AJ: Components of placebo effect: randomised controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. BMJ 2008, 336:999-1003.