The effect of the mindfulness-based interventions on inflammaging: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Inflammaging, a chronic low-grade inflammation, is considered as the basis of age-related diseases. Mindfulness is involved in protecting telomeres, whose shortening causes aging. This paper reports a protocol for the meta-analysis and systematic review to bond the causality between the mindfulness practices and inflammaging responses according to the data collected from the relevant observational studies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The published studies during 2006–2023 will be identified from PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global. The retrieved records will be screened independently by two researchers, and the relevant data will be extracted after reaching an agreement. The eligible studies will be analyzed with both of a meta-analysis and a narrative review. The risk of bias will be evaluated according to the Cochrane assessment for risk of biases. In the meta-analysis, random models will be applied to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on inflammaging due to the variation among studies. The d(ppc2) and Cohen’s d will be calculated for synthesizing the evidences from the randomized controlled trials and intervention programs without a pretest-posttest design, respectively. The interstudy heterogeneity will be assessed with the Q test and quantified using I(2) statistic. The subgroup analyses will be conducted against the categorical moderators and meta-regressions against the continuous ones. A narrative review will be recruited to deepen the understanding of the primary outcomes, in which consequential covariates with limited data in the bulk of reports will be included. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number CRD42022321766.