Effect of mindfulness meditation on depression during pregnancy: A meta-analysis

Abstract

PurposeThis study systematically evaluates the effect of mindfulness meditation on depression during pregnancy. We provide evidence-based suggestions for preventing and reducing depression during pregnancy by exploring the most effective intervention mode, cycle, and frequency of mindfulness meditation.MethodsRecords were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Science Direct. A total of 1,612 randomized controlled trial studies on the effect of mindfulness meditation on pregnancy depression were collected. 10 studies with 658 subjects meeting the inclusion criteria were extracted and analyzed by Revman 5.3 to evaluate study qualities. Stata 12.0 was used for the meta-analysis.ResultsMindfulness meditation had a positive effect on depression during pregnancy [standardized difference of the mean (SMD) = −0.786, 95% confidence interval (−1.289, −0.283), P < 0.001]. Subgroup analysis showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) had the best intervention effect on depression during pregnancy (SMD = 2.795), the best intervention duration was below 4 weeks (SMD = 1.756), applied from the first to the third stage of pregnancy (SMD = 1.024), the frequency guided by experts was less than six times a week (SMD = 2.055) of <60 min each time (SMD = 1.068), and completing homework by themselves every day for 30 mins (SMD = 1.822) was most significant for the improvement of depression during pregnancy. We found high heterogeneity across studies [q = 97.003, DF = 10, I2 = 88.0% (P < 0.001), I2 > 75%]. This may be caused by variance in measurement tools, among which Beck Depression Inventory-II was a significant source of heterogeneity.ConclusionMindfulness meditation can improve the prevention, remission, and reduction of depression during pregnancy and can be used as an auxiliary measure for the clinical treatment of pregnancy depression.

The Role of Attentional Control in Mindfulness Intervention for Emotional Distress: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Longitudinal Mediation Analyses

“…Anxiety (Hoge et al 2013) and depression (Y. Li et al 2022) levels can also be alleviated by other MBIs. These results are congruent with our findings, showing that the MIED programme exhibited noteworthy reductions in anxiety and depression, which were significantly correlated with the MIED programme registration days.…”

“…2016), pregnant women (Y. Li et al. 2022) and individuals coping with cancer (J. Li, Li, et al. 2023), consistently revealing significant reductions in depressive symptoms.…”

“…Notably, recent meta-analyses have explored the influence of MBIs on depressive symptoms across diverse groups, including adolescents (Chi et al 2018), chronic pain patients (Veehof et al 2016), pregnant women (Y. Li et al 2022) and individuals coping with cancer (J. , consistently revealing significant reductions in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the effectiveness of MBIs is robustly supported by meta-analyses indicating moderate to strong effect sizes in anxiety reduction across varied populations, including college students (Bamber and Morpeth 2019), bipolar disorder patients (Burgos-Julián et al 2022), anxiety disorder patients (Sevilla-Llewellyn-Jones et al 2018) and cancer patients (J.…”

“…Currently, investigations into the role of attentional control in MBIs have predominantly focused on assessing the impact of the intervention on elevating attentional control levels through randomized controlled trial (RCT) designs with two measurement timepoints (preintervention and postintervention; e.g., Kou et al 2023). As evidenced by a substantial number of studies, MBIs have proven effective in improving attentional control and reducing emotional distress in a broad range of populations (Bamber and Morpeth 2019;Burgos-Julián et al 2022;Chi et al 2018;Y. Li et al 2022;Veehof et al 2016).…”