Objective: Menopause is a normal physiological process experienced by women, but it is often accompanied by physical and emotional symptoms that may negatively affect quality of life. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on quality of life and menopausal symptoms by examining randomized controlled trials.
Methods: A systematic search was conducted across six electronic databases to collect relevant articles published up to June 30, 2020. The articles' quality was assessed using the modified Jadad scale. We performed a meta-analysis with Review Manager 5.3, calculating 95% confidence intervals and standardized mean differences, and conducted sensitivity analyses.
Results: The meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials included 475 participants. The results indicated that the mindfulness-based intervention groups showed significant improvements in total quality of life and vasomotor and physical quality of life, compared to control groups (standardized mean differences range: from -0.48 to -0.68, all ps < 0.05). After the sensitivity analyses, evidence of heterogeneity remained. Insufficient data prevented conducting a meta-analysis with the sexual subscale of MENQOL or on vasomotor symptoms of menopause.
Conclusion: For menopausal women, mindfulness-based interventions may improve quality of life (except for psychological and sexual subscales). However, there is insufficient evidence to analyze whether such interventions can reduce vasomotor-related menopausal symptoms. Although heterogeneity should be carefully assessed, mindfulness-based interventions may be a novel approach for improving women's overall quality of life during menopause. However, further research is needed to verify these effects.
Keywords: Menopausal symptoms; Menopause; Meta-analysis; Mindfulness-based interventions; Quality of life.
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