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Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness to Improve Elders’ Immune and Health Status:

To view our study brochure click here

This study is funded by a 4-year grant from the National Institute on Aging and is being conducted by the Rochester Center for Mind and Body Research, located at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Jan Moynihan, PhD serves as the Principal Investigator and Paul Duberstein PhD, as Co-Principal Investigator. Dr. Moynihan’s formal training is in Microbiology and Immunology, and Dr. Duberstein is a Clinical Psychologist. The main aim of the study is to examine the effects of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on immunological outcomes, psychological well-being and physical health in adults 65 years of age or older.

MBSR is based on systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation and mindful Hatha Yoga and their applications to everyday life, including challenges arising from chronic diseases of aging. The standardized MBSR program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD is the primary training tool used to enhance mindfulness. MBSR training has been associated with enhanced immune function in young healthy adults, and with some positive changes in leukocyte phenotypes in cancer patients. The effects of MBSR on immune outcomes in older adults, who might best benefit from such an intervention, is as yet unstudied. Our program aims to help participants develop their internal resources and acquired skills that can be applied to everyday situations as a means of coping more effectively with stress and illness beyond the completion of an eight-week intervention.

The immunological outcomes will be examined by looking at the immune response to a novel antigen following the MBSR sessions.Keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)) has been used as anovel antigenin a large number of human studies designed to examine normal immune responses. It is also currently being investigated as a vaccine against bladder cancer. KLH is obtained from a giant mollusc from the genus Megathura, species crenulata named “keyhole limpet,” and is known to be a potent antigenic protein capable of eliciting both humoral and cellular immune responses.

Study design:

The study will have an active group (that will participate in the MBSR sessions) and a concurrent control, wait-list group. Potential participants are randomized to one of these two groups following their initial interview with us. The active MBSR sessions will take place once a week for 8 weeks. After completion of the eight sessions, we will then administer the vaccine, and draw blood at three time points to assess anti-KLH antibody titers: at baseline (immunization), 3 weeks, and at 6 months following immunization. Subjects who are randomized to the waitlist control group condition will have the opportunity to participate in the MBSR sessions following their complete participation in the wait-list condition.

Michael Krasner, MD, will lead the MBSR sessions. Dr. Krasner, Assistant Professor, of Clinical Medicine and a Primary Care Physician with the University of Rochester’s Olsan Medical Group. He has participated in and led many MBSR groups in the Rochester area over the course of the past 5 years, including a class for physicians at the Academy of Medicine in Rochester, and “The Contemplative Mind in Medicine,” a course for medical students via the Division of Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

We would be delighted to provide you with more information. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.

The Rochester Center for Mind-Body Research (RCMBR)
University of Rochester Medical Center
Department of Psychiatry
300 Crittenden Blvd.
Rochester, New York 14642

Email: mindbody@urmc.rochester.edu

Telephone:
(585) 273-2831

Fax:
(585) 273-1384

Below is a brief listing of selected references on psychosocial response to vaccination, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and the immune response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH).

Moynihan J.A., Larson M.R., Treanor J., Duberstein P.R., Power A., Shore B., and Ader R. (2004) Psychosocial factors and the response to influenza vaccination in older adults. Psychosom Med 6, 950-953.

Davidson R.J., Kabat-Zinn J., Schumacher J., Rosenkranz M., Muller D., Santorelli S.F., Urbanowski F., Harrington A., Bonus K., and Sheridan J.F. (2003) Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosom Med 65, 564-570.

Carlson L.E., Speca M., Patel K.D., and Goodey E. (2003) Mindfulness-based stress reduction in relation to quality of life, mood, symptoms of stress, and immune parameters in breast and prostate cancer outpatients. Psychosom Med 65, 571-581.

Tuchinda M.R., Newcomb R.W., and DeVald B.L. (1972) Effect of prednisone treatment on the human immune response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin. Int. Arch. Allergy 42, 533-544.

Puyana J.C., Rode H.N., Christou N.V., Meakins J.L., and Gordon J. (1990) Induction of an immune response to keyhole-limpet hemocyanin in surgical patients with anergy. Surgery 107, 442-448.