Symptom reduction in kidney transplant patients from 20-minute mindful breathing: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background

Many kidney transplant recipients continue to be affected by multiple symptoms even after their transplant. Mindfulness may be helpful to alleviate some of the symptoms.

Objectives

Our current study aimed to determine the efficacy of a single session of 20-minute mindful breathing in alleviating multiple symptoms in kidney transplant patients.

Methods

Adult kidney transplant patients with at least one symptom scoring ≥ 4/10 based on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) were recruited from November 2020 to May 2021. Participants were randomly assigned to either 20-minute mindful breathing or control.

Results

Sixty participants were recruited and randomly assigned to intervention (N = 30) or control (N = 30). There was statistically significant greater reduction of the total ESAS score in the intervention group compared with the control group (mean difference = -4.833, confidence interval = -7.837, -1.830, t = -3.251, p = 0002).

Conclusion

Our results provided evidence that 20-minute mindful breathing could reduce multiple symptoms rapidly in kidney transplant recipients.