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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Nov 16;24(1):954.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-024-05550-9.

Effect of an 18-month meditation training on cardiovascular risk in older adults: a secondary analysis of the Age-Well randomized controlled trial

Antoine Garnier-Crussard  1   2 , Julie Gonneaud  2 , Francesca Felisatti  2 , Cassandre Palix  2 , Eglantine Ferrand Devouge  2   3 , Anne Chocat  2 , Géraldine Rauchs  2 , Vincent de la Sayette  4 , Denis Vivien  2   5 , Harriet Demnitz-King  6 , Antoine Lutz  7 , Gaël Chételat  2 , Géraldine Poisnel  8 ; Medit-Ageing Research Group
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of an 18-month meditation training on cardiovascular risk in older adults: a secondary analysis of the Age-Well randomized controlled trial

Antoine Garnier-Crussard et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors represent an important health issue in older adults. Previous findings suggest that meditation training could have a positive impact on these risk factors. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of an 18-month meditation-based intervention on cardiovascular health.

Methods: Age-Well was a randomized, controlled superiority trial with blinded end point assessment, including community-dwelling cognitively unimpaired adults 65 years and older enrolled between November 24, 2016, and March 5, 2018, in France. One hundred and thirty-four participants were included in this secondary analysis. Participants were randomly affected to an intervention group that received an 18-month meditation-based program or to comparison groups (active control group i.e. non-native language training or passive control group i.e. no intervention). The main outcome was change in the Framingham Risk Score (FRS); other outcomes were changes in cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors.

Results: There was no difference in FRS change after 18 months between trial arms (p = .38). When assessing individual cardiovascular or metabolic risk factors, meditation training was associated with a greater reduction in diastolic blood pressure than the comparison group in participants with intermediate to high cardiovascular risk (FRS > 10%) at baseline (p = .03).

Conclusion: An 18-month meditation training was not effective to increase overall cardiovascular health in older adults, but improved diastolic blood pressure in a subgroup analysis including at-risk participants. These results suggest a potential benefit of a long-term meditation intervention in older adults at-risk of cardiovascular diseases, and highlights the need for future research in more targeted populations.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02977819.

Keywords: Cardiovascular risk factor; Meditation; Metabolic risk factor; Mindfulness; Randomized controlled trial.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The Age-Well RCT was approved by the ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes CPP Nord-Ouest III, Caen; trial registration numbers: EudraCT: 2016–002441-36; IDRCB: 2016-A01767-44; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02977819). All participants gave their written informed consent to the study prior to enrollment. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests Independent of this work, AGC is an unpaid sub-investigator or principal investigator in Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials: NCT04867616 (UCB Pharma), NCT04241068 (Biogen), NCT05310071 (Envision), NCT03446001 (TauRx Therapeutics), NCT03444870 (Roche), NCT04374253 (Roche), NCT04777396 (Novo Nordisk), NCT04777409 (Novo Nordisk), NCT04770220 (Alzheon), NCT05423522 (Medesis Pharma).GC reported grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), grants from European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement No 667696 (PI), grants from Fondation d’entreprise MMA des Entrepreneurs du Futur, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Fondation Entrepreneurs MMA, grants and personal fees from Fondation Alzheimer, grants from Région Normandie, grants from Fondation Recherche Alzheimer, grants from Association France Alzheimer, outside the submitted work.GP has received research support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement No 667696, from the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) and from Région Normandie.GP, GC participated to the DSMB of the Age-Well trial and to the ExCom of Medit-Ageing.No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study flow diagram
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Changes in Framingham Risk Score before and after the intervention. Individual changes (thin lines) and mean changes (heavy lines) on the left, and mean changes with adjusted y-axis on the right, in Framingham Risk Score (log-transformed) before and after the intervention. The interaction between time and group (mixed model) was not significant
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Changes in hypertension status from baseline to follow-up according to intervention group. Changes in hypertension status: Unchanged indicates participants without change in hypertension status between baseline and follow-up (with or without hypertension), Better indicates participants with hypertension at baseline and without hypertension at follow-up, and Worse indicates participants without hypertension at baseline and with hypertension at follow-up
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