The Effects of Yoga on Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

Study	Region	Study design	Participants and group allocation	Intervention	Control	Main outcome measures
Bega et al. (2016) [10]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 7;): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 5/2; HY: Control group (: 7): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 6/1; HY:	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (deep breathing exercises and relaxation techniques; pose targeting; meditation)	Control group: resistance training	TUG, UPDRS, BBS, PDQ-39, BDI
Boulgarides et al. (2014) [12]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 10): age (y): 65.7; gender (M/F): 7/3; HY: 2.6; Control group (PD): age (y): 65.7; gender (M/F): 7/3; HY: 2.6	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (postural training; meditation; deep relaxation)	Control group: wait-list	UPDRS, HADS, BBS
Cherup et al. (2020) [20]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 15): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 10/5; Control group (: 18): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 11/7	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 45 min, (postural training; meditation)	Control group: proprioceptive training 45 min,	TUG
Cheung et al. (2018) [21]	Australia	RCT	Experimental group (: 10): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 7/6; HY: Control group (: 10): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 8/5; HY:	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (poses; breathing techniques; meditation)	Control group: the wait-list group: usual care	UPDRS, MoCA, Beck Depression Inventory
Colgrove et al. (2012) [22]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 8): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 2/6; HY: ; duration of disease (y): Control group (: 5): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 4/1; HY: ; duration of disease (y):	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (poses; breathing techniques; meditation)	Control group: yoga sessions 12 wk	UPDRS-III, BBS, ROM, muscle strength gait (postural sway and gait initiation)
Jojo et al. (2019) [11]	China (Hong Kong)	RCT	Experimental group (: 71): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 37/34; Control group (: 67): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 28/39	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise (breathing exercise (15 min); mindfulness practice (15 min); yoga practice (60 min))	Control group: stretching and resistance exercises	HADS, UPDRS-III, TUG, HWS, PDQ-8
Khuzema et al. (2020) [23]	India	RCT	Experimental group (: 9): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 6/3; duration of disease (y): Control group (: 9): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 7/2; duration of disease (y):	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 30–40 min, 8 wk (postural training; deep breathing exercises)	Control group: conventional balance exercise 30–40 min, 8 wk	BBS, TUG, 10-Minute Walk test
Myers et al. (2020) [13]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 13): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 7/6; HY: 2; Control group (: 13): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 8/5; HY: 2	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (relaxation and meditation 5 minutes; gentle spinal movements 10 minutes; standing poses 30–35 minutes; cool down 5–10 minutes; rest and relaxation 5 minutes)	Control group: usual daily routines 12 wk	BESTest, BAI
Ni et al. (2016) (same study with Ni et al. 2016) [9, 16]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 13): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 11/2; HY: ; duration of disease (y): Control group (: 10): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 4/6; HY: ; duration of disease (y):	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 1 h, (poses and deep breathing exercises)	Control group: 1-hour nonexercise, health education class,	UPDRS-III, BBS, Mini-BESTest, TUG, PDQ-39
Puymbroeck et al. (2018) (same study with Walter et al. 2019) [18, 19]	USA	RCT	Experimental group (: 15): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 10/5; Control group (: 12): age (y): ; gender (M/F): 7/5	Experimental group (yoga): yoga exercise 60 min, (posture; pranayama; dhyana)	Control group: usual care 8 wk	UPDRS, Mini-BESTest FGA, FOG, PFS-16, PDQ-8

RCT: randomized controlled trial; M: male; F: female; values are ; HY: Hoehn and Yahr scale; min: minute; wk: week; mo: month; TUG: Timed Up and Go test; UPDRS: Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; UPDRS-III: the motor subscale of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; BBS: Berg Balance Scale; PDQ-39: Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39; BDI: Beck Depression Inventory; HADS: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; MoCA: Montreal Cognitive Assessment; ROM: range-of-motion; HWS: Holistic Well-being Scale; PDQ-8: Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-8; Mini-BESTest: Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test; BAI: Beck Anxiety Inventory; FGA: Functional Gait Assessment; FoG: Freezing of Gait Questionnaire; PFS-16: Parkinson’s Fatigue Scale-16.