Application of mindfulness-based stress reduction plan in post-stroke patients with mild depression

TL;DR

This study shows that combining mindfulness-based stress reduction with standard care improves depression and cognitive function in stroke patients better than standard care alone.

Contribution

The novel contribution is demonstrating the added benefit of mindfulness-based stress reduction when combined with conventional therapy for post-stroke mild depression.

Findings

Combining mindfulness-based stress reduction with conventional therapy significantly reduced depression scores compared to conventional therapy alone.

The combination therapy also led to greater improvements in cognitive function scores.

Inflammatory markers decreased more in the combination group than in the control group.

Abstract

To explore the therapeutic effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction in patients with post-stroke mild depression.

A total of 80 patients with mild depression after stroke received by our hospital from January 2023 to December 2023 were selected as the study subjects. Randomly divide the patients into two groups: 40 in the control group and 40 in the combination group. The control group received conventional intervention therapy, while the combination group was treated with a mindfulness-based stress reduction plan combined with conventional intervention therapy. Patients in both groups were treated for 8 weeks. The general information of patients in the two groups was statistically analyzed. Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores and inflammatory factors (including TNF-α, hs-CRP, IL-6) expression levels were used to evaluate the efficacy of patients before and after treatment, and the total effective rate was counted for the two groups.

After treatment, compared with that before treatment, the HAMD-17 and SDS scores and inflammatory factor levels of patients in the control group and combination group were significantly decreased (all p < 0.05), while the MMSE and MoCA scores of patients in the control group and combination group were significantly increased (all p < 0.05). However, after treatment, the HAMD-17 and SDS scores and inflammatory factor levels of patients in the combination group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all p < 0.05). The scores of MMSE and MoCA were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05).

In the treatment of stroke patients with mild depression, mindfulness-based stress reduction combined with conventional intervention therapy can improve the overall response rate compared with conventional intervention therapy alone and has a significant advantage in reducing depression.

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