The impact of extremely brief meditation and brief mindfulness interventions on assisted reproductive technologies success rates: A randomised controlled trial Gelza Matos Nunes a , Sara de Pinho Cunha Paiva a , Selmo Geber a , Anna Sylvia Vidigal de Andrade Serra b , Marcos Aurelio Coelho Sampaio c , Rubens Lene Carvalho Tavares a,* a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30130100, Belo Horizonte, Brazil b Collaborator, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30130100, Belo Horizonte, Brazil c ORIGEN, Center for Reproductive Medicine, 30110120, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Mindfulness Meditation In Vitro Fertilization Pregnancy Rate Randomized Control Trial ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the effect of extremely brief meditation (EBMI) or brief mindfulness interventions (Brief MI) on pregnancy rate in women undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Methods: This is a prospective, three-armed, randomized controlled trial with women undergoing ART cycle, age ranging from 18 to 50 years. In the day of embryo transfer, the patients randomized to Brief MI group received a 15-minute audio of mindfulness. They were instructed to practice it daily, starting from the day of embryo transfer to the day of the pregnancy test, leading to a total of 180–210 minutes. Women randomized to EBMI met once a week during the waiting time between the embryo transfer and pregnancy test day in the same virtual room with a meditator instructor for 40 minutes, totalizing two sessions (80 minutes). The pregnancy rate was assessed via a blood test to measure hCG performed 2 weeks after embryo transfer. Results: A total of 68 women aged 37.5 ± 4.3y were included (EBMI, n = 24; Brief MI, n = 22 and CG, n = 22). Pearson’s Chi-square test and Student’s t-test for independent samples showed no significant differences between intervention and control groups. Both EBMI and Brief MI had no significant effect on pregnancy rate in women undergoing ART. Conclusion: This randomized control trial revealed that the extremely brief meditation (EBMI) or self-managed brief mindfulness intervention (Brief MI) had no significant effect on pregnancy rates in infertile women un- dergoing ART cycles. Trial registration number: NCT04058262. Introduction About 14.2 % of US adults have been using meditation, whose use has been associated with improvements in mental health, anxiety reduction and chronic pain control, improvement in sleep quality and insomnia, 1-8 increased neuroplasticity, 9-11 maintenance of a healthy human microbiota, 12 telomere length regulation and gene expression. 13,14 The intense stress associated with the diagnosis and treatment of infertile patients has been studied as one of the contributing factors to infertility. Research has been done about the practice of body-mind therapies, such as mindfulness. Studies on mind–body interventions in women coping with fertility challenges showed a significant increase in perceived social support, decrease in depression symptoms and perceived stress. 15 The effect of integrative health interventions such as meditation or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in ART cycles’ outcomes has been researched with conflicting results. 16-19 MBSR is a program comprised of weekly sessions of 2.5 hours for 8 weeks, with guided mindfulness meditation home practice. 20,21 In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), Domar et al. 2015 added relaxation techniques to the pos- itive reappraisal coping tool performed during the simulation and Trial registration number: NCT04058262 (Clinicaltrials.gov). * Corresponding author at: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30130100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. E-mail addresses: rubens.ufmg@gmail.com, tavaresr@ufmg.br (R.L.C. Tavares). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect EXPLORE journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsch https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2024.103067 Received 17 November 2023; Received in revised form 12 July 2024; Accepted 24 September 2024 Explore 20 (2024) 103067 Available online 29 September 2024 1550-8307/© 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.