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Yoga-based interventions may reduce anxiety symptoms in anxiety disorders and depression symptoms in depressive disorders: a systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression
BMJ Open systematic review (23 RCTs; 22 samples; n=1420) meta-analysed yoga, tai chi, and qigong programmes versus waitlist/no/active controls for anxiety or depressive disorders: yoga beat controls on anxiety in anxiety disorders and reduced depression in depressive disorders after sensitivity analyses, but GRADE certainty was very low for all outcomes due to bias, inconsistency, and imprecision.
Design
- Registration: CRD42022347673
- Corpus: 23 RCTs (22 independent samples; n = 1420)
- Interventions: yoga, tai chi, or qigong styles vs no treatment, waitlist, or active controls
- Populations: adults with anxiety disorders and/or depressive disorders
Abstract conclusions
- Yoga vs controls: superior for anxiety symptoms within anxiety disorders
- Yoga-based programmes vs controls: lower depression symptoms in depressive disorders after sensitivity analyses
- Other head-to-head contrasts: largely null in abstract summary
GRADE / methods limits
- Certainty: authors judged very low for all outcomes (risk of bias, indirectness, inconsistency, imprecision)
- Heterogeneity: wide variation in style, dose, and self-report instruments
Registry placement
Because the inclusion criteria explicitly span yoga, tai chi, and qigong, this source is linked from both yoga-asana-mind-body and tai-chi-qigong so users do not lose the review behind a single style label.
Publication
Martínez-Calderon J, Diaz-Cerrillo JL, Rubí-Carnacea C, et al. BMJ Open. 2023 Nov 22;13(11):e072129. PMID 37369553.
Outcomes
- Meta-analyses: yoga interventions superior to controls for anxiety symptoms in anxiety disorders; yoga-based interventions decreased depression symptoms in depressive disorders after sensitivity analyses; GRADE certainty very low for all outcomes (n=1420 across 23 RCTs).