Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22778122›Full record

Trial reportAnnals of family medicine

Meditation or exercise for preventing acute respiratory infection: a randomized controlled trial.

Bruce Barrett, Mary S Hayney, Daniel Muller, David Rakel, Ann Ward, Chidi N Obasi, Roger Brown, Zhengjun Zhang, Aleksandra Zgierska, James Gern and 5 more

Registry-linked trialOpen access · diamondAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01057771 (Meditation and Exercise for Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infection), which is not on this map. Cited by 74 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
74citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
13.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT01057771 phase2 / phase3completednot on this map

Meditation and Exercise for Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infection

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonRan2009 to 2010Enrolled154ConditionsAcute Respiratory InfectionArmsMeditation, Exercise
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

74 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.

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  9. Nasal sprays and a behavioural intervention for respiratory tract infections in primary care: 12-month follow-up of a randomised open-label trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
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14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Bruce BarrettDepartment of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1100 Delaplaine Ct, Madison, WI 53715, USA. bruce.barrett@fammed.wisc.edu
Mary S Hayney
Daniel Muller
David Rakel
Ann Ward
Chidi N Obasi
Roger Brown
Zhengjun Zhang
Aleksandra Zgierska
James Gern
Rebecca West
Tola Ewers
Shari Barlow
Michele Gassman
Christopher L Coe
University of Wisconsin–Madison · US

Funding

Institutional Clinical and Translational Science AwardUL1TR000427 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI DREZNER, MARC KENNETH · 2012 to 2016
$32.2M
INSTITUTIONAL CTSA (UW-MADISON): CLINICAL TRIALSUL1RR025011 · NCRR · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI DREZNER, MARC KENNETH · 2007 to 2011
$29.5M
Research Training in Complementary and Integrative MedicineT32AT000051 · NCCIH · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI GLORIA Y YEH · 1999 to 2026
$10.2M
Meditation and Exercise for Prevention of Acute Respiratory InfectionR01AT004313 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BARRETT, BRUCE P · 2009 to 2010
$1.2M
Mindfulness Meditation for Alcohol Relapse PreventionK23AA017508 · NIAAA · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI ZGIERSKA, ALEKSANDRA EWA · 2009 to 2013
$918k
Mentoring and research in patient-oriented medicineK24AT006543 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BARRETT, BRUCE P · 2012 to 2016
$818k
MENTORED PATIENT-ORIENTED RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENTK23AT000051 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON · PI BARRETT, BRUCE P · 1999 to 2002
$404k
GINSENG'S EFFECTS ON MRNA PROFILES IN A DIABETES-2 MODELF32AT000051 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN · PI PAN, SHUJIA J · 1999 to 2001
$96k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000427NCCIH NIH HHS 1R01AT004313NCCIH NIH HHS F32 AT000051NCCIH NIH HHS K23 AT00051NCCIH NIH HHS K24 AT006543NCCIH NIH HHS R01 AT004313NCCIH NIH HHS T32 AT000051NCRR NIH HHS UL1 RR025011NCRR NIH HHS UL1RR025011NIAAA NIH HHS K23 AA017508
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis study was designed to evaluate potential preventive effects of meditation or exercise on incidence, duration, and severity of acute respiratory infection (ARI) illness.

methodsCommunity-recruited adults aged 50 years and older were randomized to 1 of 3 study groups: 8-week training in mindfulness meditation, matched 8-week training in moderate-intensity sustained exercise, or observational control. The primary outcome was area-under-the-curve global illness severity during a single cold and influenza season, using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey (WURSS-24) to assess severity. Health care visits and days of missed work were counted. Nasal wash collected during ARI illness was assayed for neutrophils, interleukin-8, and viral nucleic acid.

resultsOf 154 adults randomized into the study, 149 completed the trial (82% female, 94% white, mean age 59.3 ± 6.6 years). There were 27 ARI episodes and 257 days of ARI illness in the meditation group (n = 51), 26 episodes and 241 illness days in the exercise group (n = 47), and 40 episodes and 453 days in the control group (n = 51). Mean global severity was 144 for meditation, 248 for exercise, and 358 for control. Compared with control, global severity was significantly lower for meditation (P = .004). Both global severity and total days of illness (duration) trended toward being lower for the exercise group (P=.16 and P=.032, respectively), as did illness duration for the meditation group (P=.034). Adjusting for covariates using zero-inflated multivariate regression models gave similar results. There were 67 ARI-related days of-work missed in the control group, 32 in the exercise group (P = .041), and 16 in the meditation group (P <.001). Health care visits did not differ significantly. Viruses were identified in 54% of samples from meditation, 42% from exercise, and 54% from control groups. Neutrophil count and interleukin-8 levels were similar among intervention groups.

conclusionsTraining in meditation or exercise may be effective in reducing ARI illness burden.

Indexed as

Acute DiseaseAdaptation, PsychologicalCommon ColdConfidence IntervalsExercise TherapyFemaleHealth Status IndicatorsHumansInfluenza, HumanMaleMeditationMiddle AgedPsychometricsRespiratory Tract InfectionsSelf ReportSeverity of Illness Index

Identifiers

PMID22778122
PMCPMC3392293
OpenAlexW2152448084

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.