Jeffery A. Dusek

Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala

Stress has significant adverse effects on health and is a risk factor for many illnesses. Neurobiological studies have implicated the amygdala as a brain structure crucial in stress responses. Whereas hyperactive amygdala function is often observed during stress conditions, cross-sectional reports of differences in gray matter structure have been less consistent. We conducted a longitudinal MRI study to investigate the relationship between changes in perceived stress with changes in amygdala gray matter density following a stress-reduction intervention. Stressed but otherwise healthy individuals (N = 26) participated in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention. Perceived stress was rated on the perceived stress scale (PSS) and anatomical MR images were acquired pre- and post-intervention. PSS change was used as the predictive regressor for changes in gray matter density within the bilateral amygdalae. Following the intervention, participants reported significantly reduced perceived stress. Reductions in perceived stress correlated positively with decreases in right basolateral amygdala gray matter density. Whereas prior studies found gray matter modifications resulting from acquisition of abstract information, motor and language skills, this study demonstrates that neuroplastic changes are associated with improvements in a psychological state variable.

Effects of Integrative Medicine on Pain and Anxiety Among Oncology Inpatients

BACKGROUND Few studies have investigated the effectiveness of integrative medicine (IM) therapies on pain and anxiety among oncology inpatients. METHODS Retrospective data obtained from electronic medical records identified patients with an oncology International Classification of Diseases-9 code who were admitted to a large Midwestern hospital between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2012. Outcomes were change in patient-reported pain and anxiety, rated before and after individual IM treatment sessions, using a numeric scale (0-10). RESULTS Of 10948 hospital admissions over the study period, 1833 (17%) included IM therapy. Older patients had reduced odds of receiving any IM therapy (odds ratio [OR]: 0.97, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.96 to 0.98) and females had 63% (OR: 1.63, 95% CI = 1.38 to 1.92) higher odds of receiving any IM therapy compared with males. Moderate (OR: 1.97, 95% CI = 1.61 to 2.41), major (OR: 3.54, 95% CI = 2.88 to 4.35), and extreme (OR: 5.96, 95% CI = 4.71 to 7.56) illness severity were significantly associated with higher odds of receiving IM therapy compared with admissions of minor illness severity. After receiving IM therapy, patients averaged a 46.9% (95% CI = 45.1% to 48.6%, P <.001) reduction in pain and a 56.1% (95% CI = 54.3% to 58.0%, P <.001) reduction in anxiety. Bodywork and traditional Chinese Medicine therapies were most effective for reducing pain, while no significant differences among therapies for reducing anxiety were observed. CONCLUSIONS IM services to oncology inpatients resulted in substantial decreases in pain and anxiety. Observational studies using electronic medical records provide unique information about real-world utilization of IM. Future studies are warranted and should explore potential synergy of opioid analgesics and IM therapy for pain control.

The impact of integrative medicine on pain management in a tertiary care hospital.

Background: Optimal inpatient pain management remains a major institutional and therapeutic challenge. Nontoxic, nonpharmacological approaches to treating pain show promise but have not been widely implemented, nor has their effectiveness been evaluated. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of an inpatient integrative medicine consult service for pain management in 6 settings across an entire tertiary care hospital. Design: Retrospective, observational study. Setting Abbott Northwestern Hospital, a 629-bed tertiary-care hospital in Minneapolis, Minn, that is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics. Participants: Approximately 1837 patients hospitalized between January 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009. Measurements: Pretreatment and posttreatment pain scores on a verbal scale of 0 to 10. Results: Most patients (66%) had never previously received integrative services. Provision of integrative services had immediate and beneficial effects on pain scores. The average reduction in pain scores was 1.9 points (on a 10-point scale), and the average percentage in pain reduction was approximately 55%. Conclusions: The formal provision of inpatient integrative medicine had a significant impact on pain scores for hospitalized patients, reducing self-reported pain by more than 50%, without placing patients at increased risk of adverse effects. This was true in all 6 settings. Age, previous use of complementary therapies, and sex did not affect results. Future research must define the appropriate dose of the intervention, the duration of the relief, and the identification of patients most likely to respond to these nonpharmacological treatments. Additionally, future research using the electronic health record will allow quantification of any reduction in total costs, pain medication usage, and adverse events.

Resilience Training: A Pilot Study of a Mindfulness-Based Program with Depressed Healthcare Professionals.

CONTEXT Mindfulness-based programs have been primarily used to target anxiety or the prevention of relapse in recurrent depression; however, limited research has been conducted on the use of mindfulness programs for relief of current depressive symptoms. OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential effect of resilience training (RT) on symptom relief for current or recurrent depression, and other psychological/behavioral outcomes. DESIGN Wait-list comparison pilot study. SETTING Penny George Institute for Health and Healing, Allina Health, Minneapolis, MN. PARTICIPANTS A total of 40 actively working healthcare professionals age 18-65 years. INTERVENTION RT is an eight-week mindfulness-based program that synergizes elements of mindfulness meditation with nutrition and exercise. The first 20 consecutive individuals meeting all eligibility criteria were assigned to the RT group. The next 20 consecutive eligible individuals were placed into the wait-list control group and had an eight-week waiting period before starting the RT program. OUTCOME MEASURES Psychological/behavioral outcomes were measured before and after completion of the RT program and two months after completion. Wait-list participants also had measures taken just before starting on the wait-list. RESULTS The RT group exhibited a 63-70% (P ≤ .01) reduction in depression, a 48% (P ≤ .01) reduction in stress, a 23% (P ≤ .01) reduction in trait anxiety, and a 52% (P ≤ .01) reduction in presenteeism (a per-employee savings of

The effectiveness of integrative medicine interventions on pain and anxiety in cardiovascular inpatients: a practice-based research evaluation

1846 over the eight-week program). All outcomes were statistically significantly different from the wait-list group. Most improvements persisted up to two months after completion of the RT program. CONCLUSIONS Further replication with a larger sample size, and enhanced control group is warranted.

Impact of vitamin D deficiency on the productivity of a health care workforce.

BackgroundPain and anxiety occurring from cardiovascular disease are associated with long-term health risks. Integrative medicine (IM) therapies reduce pain and anxiety in small samples of hospitalized cardiovascular patients within randomized controlled trials; however, practice-based effectiveness research has been limited. The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of IM interventions (i.e., bodywork, mind-body and energy therapies, and traditional Chinese medicine) on pain and anxiety measures across a cardiovascular population.MethodsRetrospective data obtained from medical records identified patients with a cardiovascular ICD-9 code admitted to a large Midwestern hospital between 7/1/2009 and 12/31/2012. Outcomes were changes in patient-reported pain and anxiety, rated before and after IM treatments based on a numeric scale (0-10).ResultsOf 57,295 hospital cardiovascular admissions, 6,589 (11.5%) included IM. After receiving IM therapy, patients averaged a 46.5% (p-value < 0.001) decrease in pain and a 54.8% (p-value < 0.001) decrease in anxiety. There was no difference between treatment modalities on pain reduction; however, mind-body and energy therapies (p-value < 0.01), traditional Chinese medicine (p-value < 0.05), and combination therapies (p-value < 0.01) were more effective at reducing anxiety than bodywork therapies. Each additional year of age reduced the odds of receiving any IM therapy by two percent (OR: 0.98, p-value < 0.01) and females had 96% (OR: 1.96, p-value < 0.01) higher odds of receiving any IM therapy compared to males.ConclusionsCardiovascular inpatients reported statistically significant decreases in pain and anxiety following care with adjunctive IM interventions. This study underscores the potential for future practice-based research to investigate the best approach for incorporating these therapies into an acute care setting such that IM therapies are most appropriately provided to patient populations.

The effectiveness of nurse-delivered aromatherapy in an acute care setting

Objective: To define the relationship between vitamin D status and employee presenteeism in a large sample of health care employees. Methods: Prospective observation study of 10,646 employees of a Midwestern-integrated health care system who completed an on-line health risk appraisal questionnaire and were measured for 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Results: Measured differences in productivity due to presenteeism were 0.66, 0.91, and 0.75 when comparing employees above and below vitamin D levels of 20 ng/mL, 30 ng/mL, and 40 ng/mL, respectively. These productivity differences translate into potential productivity savings of 0.191%, 0.553%, and 0.625%, respectively, of total payroll costs. Conclusions: Low vitamin D status is associated with reduced employee work productivity. Employee vitamin D assessment and replenishment may represent a low-cost, high-return program to mitigate risk factors and health conditions that drive total employer health care costs.

Stress and workplace productivity loss in the heart of new ulm project

OBJECTIVE To examine the use and effectiveness of essential oil therapeutic interventions on pain, nausea, and anxiety, when provided by nurses to patients in acute hospital settings across a large health system. This study expands upon the limited body of literature on aromatherapy use among inpatients. DESIGN Retrospective, effectiveness study using data obtained from electronic health records. SETTING Ten Allina Health hospitals located in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. INTERVENTIONS Nurse-delivered aromatherapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Change in patient-reported pain, anxiety, and nausea, rated before and after receiving aromatherapy using a numeric rating scale (0-10). RESULTS There were 10,262 hospital admissions during the study time frame in which nurse-delivered aromatherapy was part of patient care. The majority of admissions receiving aromatherapy were females (81.71%) and white (87.32%). Over 75% of all aromatherapy sessions were administered via inhalation. Lavender had the highest absolute frequency (49.5%) of use regardless of mode of administration, followed by ginger (21.2%), sweet marjoram (12.3%), mandarin (9.4%), and combination oils (7.6%). Sweet marjoram resulted in the largest single oil average pain change at -3.31 units (95% CI: -4.28, -2.33), while lavender and sweet marjoram had equivalent average anxiety changes at -2.73 units, and ginger had the largest single oil average change in nausea at -2.02 units (95% CI: -2.55, -1.49). CONCLUSIONS Essential oils generally resulted in significant clinical improvements based on their intended use, although each oil also showed ancillary benefits for other symptoms. Future research should explore use of additional essential oils, modes of administration, and different patient populations.

Acupuncture Provides Short-Term Pain Relief for Patients in a Total Joint Replacement Program

Objective: The impact of stress in conjunction with lifestyle factors on workplace productivity is understudied, thus the relationship between these variables was examined. Methods: Negative binomial regression was used to test the cross-sectional association between stress and productivity loss in a sample of 2823 adults. Results: After body mass index adjustment, there was an interaction between stress and physical activity (&bgr; ± SE = 0.002 ± 0.001, P = 0.033). Active participants with low stress had 2% estimated productivity loss, whereas active participants with high stress had more than 11% productivity loss. Other lifestyle factors were not significant. Conclusions: Higher stress generally predicted greater productivity loss, but this association varied. At low stress, more activity was associated with less productivity loss. At high stress, more activity was associated with more productivity loss, perhaps indicating that individuals cope by exercising more and working less.

Integrative Medicine Patients Have High Stress, Pain, and Psychological Symptoms

OBJECTIVE Given the risks of opioid medications, nonpharmacological strategies should be considered for total joint replacement patients. We investigated acupuncture as an adjunct therapy for postsurgical pain management in a total joint replacement program by examining which total hip and knee replacement patients elected to receive acupuncture and the effect of acupuncture on short-term pain. DESIGN A total joint replacement program using fast-track physiotherapy offered elective postsurgical acupuncture to all patients, at no additional cost, as an adjunct therapy to opioids for pain management. SETTING The Joint Replacement Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, a 630-bed teaching and specialty hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2010 to 2012. SUBJECTS Our sample included 2,500 admissions of total hip (THR) and total knee replacement (TKR) patients. METHODS Self-reported pain was assessed before and after acupuncture using a 0-10 scale and categorized as none/mild (0-4) and moderate/severe pain (5-10). RESULTS Seventy-five percent of admissions included acupuncture. Women (Odds Ratio: 1.48, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.22, 1.81) had higher odds of receiving acupuncture compared to men, and nonwhite patients (Odds Ratio: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.78) had lower odds of receiving acupuncture compared to white patients. Average short-term pain reduction was 1.91 points (95% CI: 1.83, 1.99), a 45% reduction from the mean prepain score. Forty-one percent of patients reported moderate/severe pain prior to receiving acupuncture, while only 15% indicated moderate/severe pain after acupuncture. CONCLUSIONS Acupuncture may be a viable adjunct to pharmacological approaches for pain management after THR or TKR.