Although nearly half of all adults in the United States (95 million) have high blood pressure (BP), only one in three patients can successfully control their high BP with conventional treatment, including lifestyle modifications and, if needed, antihypertensive medication. Stress is known to increase BP in at least two ways: (1) activating the sympathetic nervous system to make the heart pump harder and the blood vessels constrict, and (2) interfering with health behaviors, including diet, exercise, and sleep. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a proven meditation program to reduce stress. In our in-press trial (R21 AT002698-01A2) on adults with unmedicated prehypertension, an 8-week MBSR program significantly lowered high BP. The current R01 application proposes a two-site randomized clinical trial (RCT) with a larger, more diverse sample of adults from Cleveland, OH, and Durham, NC. We will also test a conceptual model that emphasizes decentering as a key mechanism by which MBSR reduces the impact of acute and chronic stress on high BP. Decentering is the ability to observe stress-related thoughts, emotions, and impulses in a way that allows one to disengage from automatic reactions to stress, maintain one's focus of attention, and respond to a demanding task or stressful trigger more effectively. We expect that MBSR-related gains in decentering will reduce exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to mild emotional stress, expedite physiological recovery, and increase healthy lifestyle behaviors over time. We plan to enroll 180 unmedicated adults with prehypertension who will receive lifestyle modification advice. Patients will then be randomly assigned to one of three study arms over an 8-week intervention period: (1) MBSR training; (2) Stress Management Education (SME), a credible, active comparison group that controls for instruction time, attention from class instructors, social support, and homework assignments, but without the active ingredient of mindfulness meditation; or a wait-list control (WLC) group that controls for natural history of changes in high BP while patients complete the study assessments only. Assessments of clinic BP (primary outcome), 24-hr ambulatory BP, stress-induced cardiovascular reactivity including heart rate (HR), BP, cardiac output (CO), pre-ejection period (PEP), and vascular resistance, and objective behavioral reactions to a mild emotional stressor will occur at Weeks 0 (baseline), 8 (post-treatment), and 60 (one-year follow-up). In addition, clinic BP will be assessed at Weeks 4 (mid-treatment) and 34 (six-month follow-up). Health behaviors will be assessed at each time point. Waitlist patients will be invited to receive their choice of open-label MBSR or SME-allowing us to explore the effect of patient preference on intervention effect sizes. The proposed two-site RCT will address two critical public health needs: (1) the need for high-quality trials wih longer-term follow-up to definitively test the effectiveness and durability of mindfulness meditation for lowering BP, and (2) the need to discern the specific psychological, biological, and behavioral mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation may reduce high BP.

Public Health Relevance

Nearly half of all adults in the United States (95 million) have high blood pressure (BP), but only one in three patients controls their high BP with conventional treatment, including lifestyle modifications and antihypertensive medication. The current application proposes a two-site randomized clinical trial (RCT) to determining the clinical efficacy of MBSR in reducing BP among prehypertensive individuals. The proposed two-site RCT will address two public health needs cited by the AHRQ: the need for high-quality trials with longer-term follow-up to definitively test the effectiveness and durability of mindfulness meditation for lowering BP, and the need for carefully controlled experimental laboratory data to discern the specific behavioral mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation reduces high BP.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL119977-04
Application #
9301633
Study Section
Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Emotion, Stress and Health Study Section (MESH)
Program Officer
Stoney, Catherine
Project Start
2014-09-01
Project End
2019-05-31
Budget Start
2017-06-01
Budget End
2018-05-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
$718,460
Indirect Cost
$95,672
Name
Kent State University at Kent
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041071101
City
Kent
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
44242
Fresco, David M; Mennin, Douglas S (2018) All together now: utilizing common functional change principles to unify cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based therapies. Curr Opin Psychol 28:65-70
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Fresco, David M; Roy, Amy K; Adelsberg, Samantha et al. (2017) Distinct Functional Connectivities Predict Clinical Response with Emotion Regulation Therapy. Front Hum Neurosci 11:86
Stange, Jonathan P; Hamilton, Jessica L; Olino, Thomas M et al. (2017) Autonomic reactivity and vulnerability to depression: A multi-wave study. Emotion 17:602-615
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Shepherd, Kathrine A; Coifman, Karin G; Matt, Lindsey M et al. (2016) Development of a self-distancing task and initial validation of responses. Psychol Assess 28:841-855
Lackner, Ryan J; Fresco, David M (2016) Interaction effect of brooding rumination and interoceptive awareness on depression and anxiety symptoms. Behav Res Ther 85:43-52

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