Positive Impacts of a Four-Week Neuro-Meditation Program on Cognitive Function in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Christophe Hausswirth (), Cyril Schmit, Yann Rougier and Alexandre Coste
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Christophe Hausswirth: LAMHESS, Université Côte d’Azur, EA6312, 06205 Nice, France
Cyril Schmit: BeScored Institute, Valbonne Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France
Yann Rougier: WHealth Found, 06270 Villeneuve-Loubet, France
Alexandre Coste: BeScored Institute, Valbonne Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: Study objective: Long COVID patients can experience high levels of impairment in their cognitive function and mental health. Using a parallel randomized control trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of a neuro-meditation program to reduce cognitive impairment in patients with long COVID. Methods: A total of 34 patients with long COVID were randomized to an intervention group (G-Int; n = 17) or a control group (G-Con; n = 17) and 15 healthy participants were constitutive of a normative group (G-Nor). The intervention consisted of ten 30-min sessions of Rebalance ® over a period of five weeks. Each session included sound therapy and coach-guided meditation associated with light stimulations (i.e., chromotherapy). Primary outcomes were performance on five computerized cognitive tasks ( choice response time , pattern comparison , Simon, pursuit rotor task , and Corsi block-tapping task ), mental and physical fatigue ( Chalder fatigue scale ), perceived stress ( perceived stress scale ) and mood ( profiles of mood states ). Secondary outcomes were anxiety and depressive symptoms ( hospital anxiety and depression scale ), muscular pain, joint pain, and headaches using visual analog scales ( VAS ) as well as sleep quality ( Spiegel sleep questionnaire ). Assessments were conducted at baseline and at 1–2 and 7–8 days of follow-up. Results: Compared to healthy subjects, long COVID patients showed significant differences at baseline on all the self-report questionnaires, and a Rebalance ® program improved all the subjective reports, as well as cognitive performances, especially on reaction time-based tasks. In particular, only the G-Int group revealed shortened reaction times in the choice reaction time (RT baseline = 593 ± 121 ms vs. RT post2 = 521 ± 86 ms, p < 0.001), Simon (RT baseline = 539 ± 123 ms vs. RT post2 = 494 ± 134 ms, p < 0.01), and pattern comparison tasks (RT baseline = 1244 ± 315 ms vs. RT post2 = 1079 ± 213 ms, p < 0.001). Conclusions) Initial evidence suggests that neuro-meditation reduces cognitive impairment and improves physical and mental fatigue, muscle and joint pain, symptoms of depression and anxiety, mood disturbances as well as sleep quality. The Rebalance ® program hence constitutes a promising non-pharmacological intervention for the treatment of long-term psychological/cognitive outcomes of COVID-19.

Keywords: post-acute COVID-19 syndrome; mindfulness; mental health; cognitive tasks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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