Meditation as a Stress Management Strategy in Cardiac Rehabilitation for Coronary Artery Disease Patients: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Despite advances in cardiac care, psychological stress, anxiety, and depression remaincommon in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and contribute to worsecardiovascular outcomes. Exercise‐based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs areeffective in reducing physical risk factors but often do not adequately address thepsychological burden of CAD. Mind‐body interventions such as meditation have beensuggested as cost‐effective adjuncts to CR, but evidence in long‐term phase III CRprograms remains limited.This pilot randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the additive effect of astructured meditation intervention combining Karuna (compassion) and Metta(loving‐kindness) practices, integrated into a long‐term CR program. The interventionincluded four weekly 90‐minute group sessions led by a physiotherapist trained inmeditation techniques, followed by 12 weeks of daily individual practice (20 minutes/day)supported by recorded video material and weekly follow‐up telephone calls. Outcomes weremeasured at baseline (M0) and after 16 weeks (M1), using validated psychometricinstruments administered by telephone interview by a blinded health professional.