Randomized Trial of the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain-Related Disability, Pain Intensity, Health-Related Quality of Life, and A1C in Patients With Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

Howard J Nathan; Patricia Poulin; Denise Wozny; Monica Taljaard; Cathy Smyth; Ian Gilron; Alexander Sorisky; Heather Lochnan; Yaad Shergill

doi:10.2337/cd17-0077

Randomized Trial of the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain-Related Disability, Pain Intensity, Health-Related Quality of Life, and A1C in Patients With Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

Clin Diabetes. 2017 Dec;35(5):294-304. doi: 10.2337/cd17-0077.

Authors

Howard J Nathan¹, Patricia Poulin², Denise Wozny², Monica Taljaard^{2

3}, Cathy Smyth¹, Ian Gilron⁴, Alexander Sorisky^{2

5

6}, Heather Lochnan⁵, Yaad Shergill²

Affiliations

¹ University of Ottawa, Department of Anesthesiology, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
² Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
³ University of Ottawa, School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Queen's University, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ University of Ottawa, Department of Medicine, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁶ University of Ottawa, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

IN BRIEF Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN) has a large negative impact on patients' physical and mental functioning, and pharmacological therapies rarely provide more than partial relief. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a group psychosocial intervention that was developed for patients with chronic illness who were not responding to existing medical treatments. This study tested the effects of community-based MBSR courses for patients with PDPN. Among patients whose PDPN pharmacotherapy had been optimized in a chronic pain clinic, those randomly assigned to treatment with MBSR experienced improved function, better health-related quality of life, and reduced pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and depression compared to those receiving usual care.