Persons with epilepsy are afflicted with comorbidities such as stigma, anxiety, and depression which have a significant impact on their quality of life. These comorbidities remain largely unaddressed in resource-limited countries. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed to investigate whether yoga and psychoeducation were effective in reducing felt stigma (primary outcome), neuropsychiatric outcomes, and seizure frequency, as compared with sham yoga and psychoeducation in persons with epilepsy.

This was an assessor-blinded, sham yoga–controlled RCT. Patients clinically diagnosed with epilepsy, aged 18–60 years, and scoring higher than the cutoff score for felt stigma as measured by the Kilifi Stigma Scale (KSS) in our population were randomly assigned to receive either yoga therapy plus psychoeducation (intervention) or sham yoga therapy plus psychoeducation (comparator) for a duration of 3 months. The primary outcome was a significant decrease in felt stigma as compared with the comparator arm as measured by the KSS. Primary and secondary outcomes (seizure frequency, quality of life, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, trait rumination, cognitive impairment, emotion regulation) were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Parametric/nonparametric analysis of covariance and the ² test were used to compare the 2 arms.

A total of 160 patients were enrolled in the trial. At the end of the follow-up period (6 months), the intervention arm reported significant reduction in felt stigma as compared with the control arm (Cohen's d = 0.23, 95% CI –0.08 to 0.55, p = 0.006). Significantly higher odds of >50% seizure reduction (odds ratio [OR] 4.11, 95% CI 1.34–14.69, p = 0.01) and complete seizure remission (OR 7.4, 95% CI 1.75–55.89, p = 0.005) were also observed in the intervention group. The intervention group showed significant improvement in symptoms of anxiety, cognitive impairment, mindfulness, and quality of life relative to the control group at the end of follow-up period (p < 0.05).

Yoga can alleviate the burden of epilepsy and improve the overall quality of life in epilepsy by reducing perceived stigma.

Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI/2017/04/008385).

This study provides Class I evidence that yoga reduces felt stigma in adult patients with epilepsy.

癫痫患者患有耻辱、焦虑和抑郁等合并症，这对他们的生活质量产生重大影响。在资源有限的国家，这些合并症基本上仍未得到解决。这项随机对照试验 (RCT) 旨在调查与假瑜伽和心理教育相比，瑜伽和心理教育是否能有效减少癫痫患者的耻辱感（主要结果）、神经精神结果和癫痫发作频率。

这是一项评估者盲法、假瑜伽对照的随机对照试验。临床诊断为癫痫的患者，年龄 18-60 岁，在我们的人群中，通过基利菲耻辱量表 (KSS) 测量，得分高于耻辱感截止分数，被随机分配接受瑜伽治疗加心理教育（干预）或假治疗瑜伽疗法加心理教育（比较）为期 3 个月。主要结果是通过 KSS 测量，与比较组相比，耻辱感显着减少。在基线、3个月和6个月时评估主要和次要结局（癫痫发作频率、生活质量、焦虑、抑郁、正念、特质沉思、认知障碍、情绪调节）。使用协方差参数/非参数分析和^{2检验来比较 2 个组。}

共有 160 名患者参加了该试验。在随访期（6 个月）结束时，与对照组相比，干预组的耻辱感显着减少（Cohen's d = 0.23，95% CI –0.08 至 0.55，p = 0.006）。还观察到癫痫发作减少 >50%（比值比 [OR] 4.11，95% CI 1.34–14.69，p = 0.01）和癫痫发作完全缓解（OR 7.4，95% CI 1.75–55.89，p = 0.005）的几率显着更高在干预组中。随访结束时，与对照组相比，干预组的焦虑、认知障碍、正念和生活质量症状显着改善（p < 0.05）。

瑜伽可以减轻癫痫患者的负担，并通过减少耻辱感来提高癫痫患者的整体生活质量。

印度临床试验注册中心 (CTRI/2017/04/008385)。

这项研究提供了一级证据，表明瑜伽可以减少成年癫痫患者的耻辱感。