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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Jul-Aug;57(4):359-68.
doi: 10.1016/j.psym.2016.02.007. Epub 2016 Feb 24.

Effects of Positive Psychology Interventions on Risk Biomarkers in Coronary Patients: A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Pilot Trial

Gholam Reza Nikrahan  1 , Johannes A C Laferton  2 , Karim Asgari  3 , Mehrdad Kalantari  3 , Mohammad Reza Abedi  4 , Ali Etesampour  5 , Abbas Rezaei  6 , Laura Suarez  7 , Jeff C Huffman  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of Positive Psychology Interventions on Risk Biomarkers in Coronary Patients: A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Pilot Trial

Gholam Reza Nikrahan et al. Psychosomatics. 2016 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Background: Among cardiac patients, positive psychologic factors are consistently linked with superior clinical outcomes and improvement in key markers of inflammation and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Further, positive psychology interventions (PPI) have effectively increased psychologic well-being in a wide variety of populations. However, there has been minimal study of PPIs in cardiac patients, and no prior study has evaluated their effect on key prognostic biomarkers of cardiac outcome. Accordingly, we investigated the effect of 3 distinct PPIs on risk biomarkers in cardiac patients.

Methods: In an exploratory trial, 69 patients with recent coronary artery bypass graft surgery or percutaneous intervention were randomized to (1) one of three 6-week in-person PPIs (based on the work of Seligman, Lyubomirsky, or Fordyce) or (2) a wait-list control group. Risk biomarkers were assessed at baseline, postintervention (7 weeks), and at 15-week follow-up. Between-group differences in change from baseline biomarker levels were examined via random effects models.

Results: Compared with the control group, participants randomized to the Seligman (B = -2.06; p = 0.02) and Fordyce PPI (B = -1.54; p = 0.04) had significantly lower high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels at 7 weeks. Further, the Lyubomirsky PPI (B = -245.86; p = 0.04) was associated with a significantly lower cortisol awakening response at 7 weeks when compared with control participants. There were no other significant between-group differences.

Conclusion: Despite being an exploratory pilot study with multiple between-group comparisons, this initial trial offers the first suggestion that PPIs might be effective in reducing risk biomarkers in high-risk cardiac patients.

Keywords: HPA-axis functioning; coronary artery disease; inflammation; intervention; positive psychology; randomized controlled trial.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT Diagram of study recruitment and throughput.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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