Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common and disabling functional disorder characterized by significant abdominal discomfort and disturbed defecation. It affects over 10% of U.S. adults (14% women, 8% men), resulting in major disability, impaired quality of life, and a significant health-care burden. Conventional management of IBS is only partially effective in some patients and includes use of medications, behavioral modification, dietary approaches, and lifestyle changes such as exercise and stress reduction. Although behavioral treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis have been among the most effective treatments, they are costly to deliver. ? ? Mindfulness meditation, a complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) therapy taught in groups, is a unique self-regulatory, mind-body approach in which practitioners learn to attend to present-moment experiences, letting go of fixation on negative emotions and thoughts of past and future. It has been found to be effective in reducing chronic pain and stress and in ameliorating disorders with similarities to IBS, including fibromyalgia, headache, and depression. ? ? The overall goals of this exploratory, pilot study of women with IBS are to compare mindfulness meditation training to a patient support group (a previously validated control condition) in a small, randomized controlled clinical trial, in order to assess the feasibility of a larger, definitive trial.
Specific aims are to evaluate primary and secondary outcome measures, to assess expectancy of benefit and scales measuring mindfulness (process measures), and to identify barriers to conducting such a trial in our setting. Sixty women meeting Rome II diagnostic criteria for IBS will be randomly assigned to one of two treatments - mindfulness meditation training or a support group - and will undergo 8 weekly group sessions plus a single day-long session. The primary outcome measure is improvement on the validated Irritable Bowel Symptom Severity Scale from pretreatment to the end of treatment, with follow-up at 3, 6, and 12 months. Additional variables address alternative endpoints (e.g., Adequate Relief of IBS symptoms, disease specific quality of life) and mechanism of treatment effects (e.g., coping scales, psychological symptoms, Visceral Sensitivity Scale). The multidisciplinary research team includes physicians, psychologists, and educators. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21AT003619-03
Application #
7493428
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAT1-SM (02))
Program Officer
Sorkin, Barbara C
Project Start
2006-09-30
Project End
2010-08-31
Budget Start
2008-09-01
Budget End
2010-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$138,931
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Department
Physical Medicine & Rehab
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
608195277
City
Chapel Hill
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27599
Gaylord, Susan A; Palsson, Olafur S; Garland, Eric L et al. (2012) Gastroenterology :
Garland, Eric L; Gaylord, Susan A; Palsson, Olafur et al. (2012) Therapeutic mechanisms of a mindfulness-based treatment for IBS: effects on visceral sensitivity, catastrophizing, and affective processing of pain sensations. J Behav Med 35:591-602
Gaylord, Susan A; Palsson, Olafur S; Garland, Eric L et al. (2011) Mindfulness training reduces the severity of irritable bowel syndrome in women: results of a randomized controlled trial. Am J Gastroenterol 106:1678-88
Gaylord, Susan A; Whitehead, William E; Coble, Rebecca S et al. (2009) Mindfulness for irritable bowel syndrome: protocol development for a controlled clinical trial. BMC Complement Altern Med 9:24