Study examines link between meditation and T-cell count

[kweerwolf]

Can meditating delay the need for HIV-positive people to take antiretrovirals? San Francisco researchers are trying to find out. A new study aims to see if meditation can keep HIV-positive people's CD4+ T-cell count high enough so they can postpone other forms of treatment.

"We are not looking for something where people might never need to go on antiretrovirals but we are looking for things people can do to stay healthy longer and not start antiretrovirals so soon," said Dr. Rick Hecht, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of research at UCSF's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. "That has been a big question for me over the almost 20 years since I first started seeing people who were HIV-positive and not sick yet. What can you do to stay well short of going on antiretrovirals? There is a lot we know but a lot we don't know."

Observational data has shown that stress and depression are both associated with more rapid loss of CD4+ T-cells. But little is known if interventions that address stress and mood are capable of slowing the loss of CD4+ T-cells. Several smaller studies have shown meditation can lead to immunologic benefits for HIV-positive people, said Hecht.

To get a better, broader picture Hecht and colleague Dr. Susan Folkman have launched the Staying Well Study, a clinical trial that will compare the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a meditation-based program that is taught in eight weekly sessions, to HIV education/support groups. MBSR has been shown to improve perceived stress and improve mood in prior trials.

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=181

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