Systematic review of the efficacy of pre-surgical mind-body based therapies on post-operative outcome measures

Abstract

Objectives: A large body of research has demonstrated that patient factors are strong predictors of recovery from surgery. Mind-body therapies are increasingly targeted at pre-operative psychological factors. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy of pre-operative mind-body based interventions on post-operative outcome measures amongst elective surgical patients. Methods: A systematic review of the published literature was conducted using the electronic databases MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsychINFO. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with a prospective before-after surgery design were included. Results: Twenty studies involving 1297 patients were included. Mind-body therapies we..