Lipschitz David L, Kuhn Renee, Kinney Anita Y, Grewen Karen, Donaldson Gary W, Nakamura Yoshio
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Integr Cancer Ther. 2015 Jul;14(4):366-80. doi: 10.1177/1534735415580675. Epub 2015 Apr 14.
Cancer survivors experience high levels of distress, associated with a host of negative psychological states, including anxiety, depression, and fear of recurrence, which often lead to sleep problems and reduction in quality of life (QOL) and well-being. As a neuropeptide hormone associated with affiliation, calmness, and well-being, oxytocin may be a useful biological measure of changes in health outcomes in cancer survivors. In this exploratory study, which comprised a subset of participants from a larger study, we evaluated (a) the feasibility and reliability of salivary oxytocin (sOT) levels in cancer survivors and (b) the effects of 2 sleep-focused mind-body interventions, mind-body bridging (MBB) and mindfulness meditation (MM), compared with a sleep hygiene education (SHE) control, on changes in sOT levels in 30 cancer survivors with self-reported sleep disturbance. Interventions were conducted in 3 sessions, once per week for 3 weeks. Saliva samples were collected at baseline, postintervention (~1 week after the last session), and at the 2-month follow-up. In this cancer survivor group, we found that intra-individual sOT levels were fairly stable across the 3 time points, of about 3 months' duration, and mean baseline sOT levels did not differ between females and males and were not correlated with age. Correlations between baseline sOT and self-report measures were weak; however, several of these relationships were in the predicted direction, in which sOT levels were negatively associated with sleep problems and depression and positively associated with cancer-related QOL and well-being. Regarding intervention effects on sOT, baseline-subtracted sOT levels were significantly larger at postintervention in the MBB group as compared with those in SHE. In this sample of cancer survivors assessed for sOT, at postintervention, greater reductions in sleep problems were noted for MBB and MM compared with that of SHE, and increases in mindfulness and self-compassion were observed in the MBB group compared with those in SHE. The findings in this exploratory study suggest that sOT may be a reliable biological measure over time that may provide insight into the effects of mind-body interventions on health outcomes in cancer survivors.
癌症幸存者经历着高水平的痛苦，这与一系列负面心理状态相关，包括焦虑、抑郁和对复发的恐惧，这些往往会导致睡眠问题以及生活质量（QOL）和幸福感的下降。作为一种与归属感、平静和幸福感相关的神经肽激素，催产素可能是衡量癌症幸存者健康状况变化的一种有用的生物学指标。在这项探索性研究中，我们从一项更大规模的研究中选取了一部分参与者，评估了（a）癌症幸存者唾液催产素（sOT）水平的可行性和可靠性，以及（b）与睡眠卫生教育（SHE）对照组相比，两种以睡眠为重点的身心干预措施，即身心桥梁（MBB）和正念冥想（MM），对30名自我报告有睡眠障碍的癌症幸存者sOT水平变化的影响。干预共进行3次，每周一次，持续3周。在基线、干预后（最后一次干预约1周后）和2个月随访时收集唾液样本。在这个癌症幸存者群体中，我们发现个体内sOT水平在约3个月的3个时间点上相当稳定，且女性和男性的平均基线sOT水平没有差异，也与年龄无关。基线sOT与自我报告测量之间的相关性较弱；然而，其中一些关系符合预期方向，即sOT水平与睡眠问题和抑郁呈负相关，与癌症相关的生活质量和幸福感呈正相关。关于干预对sOT的影响，与SHE组相比，MBB组干预后的基线校正sOT水平显著更高。在这个评估sOT的癌症幸存者样本中，干预后，与SHE组相比，MBB组和MM组的睡眠问题减少更多，且MBB组的正念和自我同情有所增加。这项探索性研究的结果表明，随着时间推移，sOT可能是一种可靠的生物学指标，它可能有助于深入了解身心干预对癌症幸存者健康状况的影响。
