Yoga for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: more than wishful thinking?

Yoga, it is often claimed, might be a unique method for disease prevention. One website, for instance, states that numerous studies show how yoga can help prevent these diseases: Heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Osteoporosis and Type II Diabetes. 

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are responsible for more deaths than any other disease category. Preventing CVD is therefore of prime importance. But are the claims made for yoga really true? What does the reliable evidence tell us?

The aim of our systematic review was to determine the effects of yoga on the primary prevention of CVD. Extensive literature searches were performed to identify all RCTs lasting at least three months, involving healthy adults or people at high risk of CVD. Trials examined any type of yoga and the comparison groups received no intervention or minimal interventions. Outcomes of interest were clinical CVD events and major CVD risk factors. Trials that involved multifactorial lifestyle interventions or weight loss programmes were excluded.

We identified 11 RCTs with a total of just 800 participants. Style and duration of yoga differed between trials. About half of all the trial participants were at high risk of CVD. Most of the studies were at risk of performance bias, with inadequate details reported in many of them to judge the risk of selection bias. None of the studies reported cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality or non-fatal events, and most studies were small and short-term.

Yoga was found to produce an average reduction in diastolic blood pressure of 2.90 mmHg. The effect that was small but stable on sensitivity analysis. Triglycerides (-0.27 mmol/l) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (0.08 mmol/l) were also positively affected. However, these findings were based on small, short-term studies at unclear or high risk of bias. There was no clear evidence of an effect on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Adverse events, occurrence of type 2 diabetes and costs were not reported in any of the included studies. Quality of life was measured in three trials but the results were inconclusive.

Our conclusion: The limited evidence comes from small, short-term, low-quality studies. There is some evidence that yoga has favourable effects on diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and uncertain effects on LDL cholesterol. These results should be considered as exploratory and interpreted with caution.

This systematic review thus offers both good and bad news. The good news is that yoga seems to hold some promise in the prevention of CVD. The bad news, however, is diverse:

• We cannot be sure what type of yoga is best; yoga can entail anything from regular exercise, to breathing techniques, to a complete and comprehensive change of life style.
• The effect sizes are far from remarkable.
• The quality of the research tends to be poor.
• Once again, we have to note that, by not reporting on adverse effects, alt med researchers are violating fundamental research ethics.

Many systematic reviews conclude by stating that more and better research is required – in the case of yoga, this platitude might actually be true.