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Updated: Mar 14, 2026
Author Spotlight: Methodologies and Advancements of Chronic Pain Management Research
Published on: January 5, 2024
Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Lara Hilton1, Susanne Hempel2, Brett A Ewing2
1RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA, 90407-2138, USA. hilton@rand.org.
Background:
Chronic pain patients increasingly seek treatment through mindfulness meditation.
Purpose:
This study aims to synthesize evidence on efficacy and safety of mindfulness meditation interventions for the treatment of chronic pain in adults.
Method:
We conducted a systematic review on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with meta-analyses using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random-effects models. Quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Outcomes included pain, depression, quality of life, and analgesic use.
Results:
Thirty-eight RCTs met inclusion criteria; seven reported on safety. We found low-quality evidence that mindfulness meditation is associated with a small decrease in pain compared with all types of controls in 30 RCTs. Statistically significant effects were also found for depression symptoms and quality of life.
Conclusions:
While mindfulness meditation improves pain and depression symptoms and quality of life, additional well-designed, rigorous, and large-scale RCTs are needed to decisively provide estimates of the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for chronic pain.
