Yoga may improve QOL for patients with epilepsy by decreasing perceived stigma, according to findings published in Neurology. Manjari Tripathi, MD, and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) among 160 adults with epilepsy who scored higher than the cut-off score for felt stigma on a validated scale. The researchers randomly assigned patients to receive either yoga therapy plus psychoeducation (intervention) or sham yoga therapy plus psychoeducation (comparator). In both groups, 60% of the patients had focal-onset seizures. The intervention arm showed a significant decrease in felt stigma versus the control arm (P=0.006); patients in the intervention arm also had greater odds of a 50% decrease in seizures (P=0.01) and freedom from seizures (P=0.005). Further, patients in the intervention arm reported significant improvements in anxiety, cognitive impairment, mindfulness, and QOL at the end of follow-up. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first RCT with a large sample size to demonstrate that patients administered [a] yoga-based intervention have greater odds of seizure reduction, although this finding needs further validation in an adequately powered clinical trial,” Dr. Tripathi and colleagues wrote.
