Mind-Body Interventions for Depressive Symptoms in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses.

BACKGROUND: Psychological comorbidities in chronic pain (CP) are common and contribute to adverse health outcomes and poor quality of life. Evidence-based guidance for the management of depressive symptoms in CP is limited, particularly for mind-body interventions. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of mind-body interventions for the management of depressive symptoms in people with CP. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review (SR) of SRs. SETTING: SRs with meta-analyses of clinical interventions for the management of depressive symptoms in people with CP. METHODS: This SR was reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Electronic searches were performed for MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, AMED, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Joanna Briggs Institute Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports from inception to March 14, 2019. Reference lists and overviews were also hand-searched. SRs of mind-body interventions for CP were included if they conducted a meta-analysis of depression outcomes in people with any CP type not including headache. Two independent reviewers screened, extracted, and evaluated the quality of articles found. Quality was assessed using the AMSTAR 2 criteria and data were summarized narratively with standardized mean differences and 95% confidence intervals of the depression outcome. RESULTS: Eleven SRs with 20 distinct meta-analyses demonstrated a small to moderate beneficial effect for mind-body interventions (effect sizes: -0.05 to -0.63). LIMITATIONS: Depressive symptomatology was a subordinate concern compared with other outcomes. The primary literature base was reasonably broad with 33 primary studies, but small when compared with the number of meta-analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Mind-body interventions show consistent small to moderate effects in reducing depressive symptoms in CP. The literature in this area demonstrates understudy and oversynthesis. There is a need for more clinical trials focusing on people with axial pain, people with comorbid major depressive disorder, and with depression as the primary outcome of interest. Full SR registered on PROSPERO: CRD42019131871.

Distance-limited walk tests post-stroke: A systematic review of measurement properties.

BACKGROUND: Improving walking capacity is a key objective of post-stroke rehabilitation. Evidence describing the quality and protocols of standardized tools for assessing walking capacity can facilitate their implementation. OBJECTIVE: To synthesize existing literature describing test protocols and measurement properties of distance-limited walk tests in people post-stroke. METHODS: Electronic database searches were completed in 2017. Records were screened and appraised for quality. RESULTS: Data were extracted from 43 eligible articles. Among the 12 walk tests identified, the 10-metre walk test (10mWT) at a comfortable pace was most commonly evaluated. Sixty-three unique protocols at comfortable and fast paces were identified. Walking pace and walkway surface, but not walkway length, influenced walking speed. Intraclass correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability ranged from 0.80-0.99 across walk tests. Measurement error values ranged from 0.04-0.40 and 0.06 to 0.20 for the 10mWT at comfortable and fast and paces, respectively. Across walk tests, performance was most frequently correlated with measures of strength, balance, and physical activity (r = 0.26-0.8, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The 10mWT has the most evidence of reliability and validity. Findings indicate that studies that include people with severe walking deficits, in acute and subacute phases of recovery, with improved quality of reporting, are needed.