Investigating Clinical Benefits of a Novel Sleep-Focused, Mind-Body Program on Gulf War Illness Symptoms: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial.

摘要

Mind-body Bridging (MBB) has been shown to be an effective mind-body intervention for improving health outcomes in the management of disturbed sleep. In this prospective RCT, we evaluated the efficacy of sleep-focused mind-body bridging (MBB) compared with a sleep hygiene education control (SED) for improving sleep in Gulf War (GW) Veterans suffering from disturbed sleep and other co-existing symptoms. MBB (n=33) and SED (n=27) each comprised three weekly sessions. The primary outcome measure, Medical Outcomes Study- Sleep Scale (MOS-SS) was completed at baseline (pre-intervention), weekly during treatment, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up, while secondary measures for PTSD, depression, fatigue, quality of life, symptom severity, and mindfulness were completed at Baseline, Post-intervention and 3-month Follow-up. Clinician-administered assessments for sleep and co-occurring physical and psychological health status were conducted at baseline and post-intervention. Results demonstrated that MBB was significantly more efficacious than SED in reducing sleep problems at Follow-up. Additionally, self-reported PTSD, depression and fatigue symptoms significantly improved in MBB compared with those in SED, mostly at follow-up. Consistently higher percentages of GW Veterans in MBB experienced improved symptoms at the clinical evaluation in comparison with those Veterans in SED. These findings provide encouraging evidence that sleep-focused MBB is an efficacious intervention program that can improve both sleep and co-occurring symptoms in GW Veterans.