Niles Barbara L, Kaiser Anica Pless, Crow Thomas, McQuade Maria, Polizzi Craig, Palumbo Carole, Krengel Maxine, Sullivan Kimberly, Wang Chenchen, Mori DeAnna L
National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, 150 South Huntington Avenue (Office 12B-53C), Boston, MA, 02130, USA.
National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
Int J Behav Med. 2024 Dec 16. doi: 10.1007/s12529-024-10338-7.
Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom illness that affects up to one-third of the 700,000 American military personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf region in 1990 and 1991. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine feasibility and the relative efficacy of two 12-week in-person group treatments (Tai Chi and Wellness) to address GWI symptoms of chronic pain, fatigue, and changes in mood and cognitive functioning.
Male and female veterans were randomly assigned to Tai Chi (n = 27) or Wellness (n = 26) group interventions and assessed at four time points: baseline, post-treatment, 3-, and 9-month follow-up. Multilevel models with a treatment-by-time interaction term were utilized to evaluate treatment effects and changes in GWI-related outcomes over time.
Satisfaction was high, there were no adverse events, and over half the participants attended 75% or more sessions with no significant differences between groups. For pain interference, analyses revealed a significant quadratic effect of time with no differences between treatment groups. For general fatigue and a cognitive test of trail making, no significant effects were detected. For depressed mood, linear and quadratic time effects and the group x linear time interaction were significant indicating greater reductions for Tai Chi participants. For a verbal learning test, linear and quadratic time and the group x quadratic time interaction significantly predicted total recall with Tai Chi participants demonstrating more rapid initial improvements.
Findings indicate that both Tai Chi and Wellness are feasible and acceptable. Both interventions may have a salutary impact on pain interference, depression, and verbal learning with some advantages for Tai Chi.
海湾战争综合症（GWI）是一种慢性多症状疾病，影响了1990年和1991年部署到波斯湾地区的70万美国军事人员中的三分之一。我们进行了一项随机对照试验，以检验两种为期12周的面对面团体治疗（太极拳和健康疗法）解决GWI慢性疼痛、疲劳以及情绪和认知功能变化症状的可行性和相对疗效。
将退伍军人随机分为太极拳组（n = 27）或健康疗法组（n = 26）进行干预，并在四个时间点进行评估：基线、治疗后、3个月和9个月随访。使用带有治疗时间交互项的多层次模型来评估治疗效果以及GWI相关结果随时间的变化。
满意度很高，没有不良事件发生，超过一半的参与者参加了75%或更多的课程，两组之间没有显著差异。对于疼痛干扰，分析显示时间有显著的二次效应，治疗组之间没有差异。对于一般疲劳和一项连线测验的认知测试，未检测到显著影响。对于抑郁情绪，线性和二次时间效应以及组×线性时间交互作用显著，表明太极拳参与者的抑郁情绪降低幅度更大。对于一项言语学习测试，线性和二次时间以及组×二次时间交互作用显著预测了总回忆量，太极拳参与者表现出更快的初始改善。
研究结果表明，太极拳和健康疗法都是可行且可接受的。两种干预措施可能对疼痛干扰、抑郁和言语学习有有益影响，太极拳有一些优势。
