CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 70Physical Activity and HealthObesity, Physical Activity, DietMindfulness and Compassion Interventions

Yoga in Women With Abdominal Obesity

Open access
Cramer, Holger, Thoms, Meral Sushila, Anheyer, Dennis, Lauche, Romy, Dobos, Gustav·2016·Deutsches Ärzteblatt international
DOI 10.3238/arztebl.2016.0645PMC PMC5098025
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Abdominal obesity is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of yoga on waist circumference and other anthropometric and self-reported variables in women with abdominal obesity. METHODS: 60 women with abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥ 88 cm; body-mass index [BMI] ≥ 25) were randomly allocated in a 2:1 ratio to either a 12-week yoga intervention (n = 40) or a waiting list (n = 20). The waist circumference was the primary endpoint. Secondary (exploratory) endpoints included the waist/hip ratio, body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, body muscle mass percentage, blood pressure, health-related quality of life, self-esteem, subjective stress, body awareness, and body responsiveness, and the safety of the intervention. The persons assessing the outcomes were blinded to the group to which the patients belonged. RESULTS: The patients in the yoga group participated in a mean of 30.2±9.2 (maximum, 42) hours of supervised yoga practice. Their abdominal circum - ference was significantly reduced in comparison to the participants on the waiting list, with an intergroup difference of -3.8 cm (95% confidence interval [-6.1; -1,.5]; p = 0.001). There were further, moderate intergroup differences in the waist/hip ratio, body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, body muscle mass percentage, mental and physical well-being, self-esteem, subjective stress, body awareness, and trust in bodily sensations (all p<0.05). There were no serious adverse events. None of the participants embarked on a low-calorie diet while participating in the study. CONCLUSION: The 12-week yoga intervention had moderately strong positive effects on anthropometric and self-reported variables in women with abdominal obesity. Yoga is safe in this population and can be recommended as a technique for combating abdominal obesity in women.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3238/arztebl.2016.0645

Cites

9 of 9 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 27

  1. [1]1. World Health Organization: Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014. Geneva: WHO Press; 2014.
  2. [2]2. Westphal SA: Obesity, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance. Clin Cornerstone 2008; 9: 23-9.
  3. [3]3. Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, et al.: Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. Lancet 2004; 364: 937-52.
  4. [6]6. Castellani W, Ianni L, Ricca V, Mannucci E, Rotella CM: Adherence to structured physical exercise in overweight and obese subjects: a review of psychological models. Eat Weight Disord 2003; 8: 1-11.
  5. [7]7. Feuerstein G: The yoga tradition. Prescott: Hohm Press 1998.
  6. [11]11. Cramer H, Ward L, Steel A, Lauche R, Dobos G, Zhang Y: Prevalence, Patterns, and Predictors of Yoga Use: Results of a U.S. Nationally Representative Survey. Am J Prev Med 2016; 50: 230-5.
  7. [13]13. Kristal AR, Littman AJ, Benitez D, White E: Yoga practice is associated with attenuated weight gain in healthy, middle-aged men and women. Altern Ther Health Med 2005; 11: 28-33.
  8. [14]14. Lauche R, Langhorst J, Lee MS, Dobos G, Cramer H: A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of yoga on weight-related outcomes. Prev Med 2016; 87: 213-32.
  9. [16]16. Saghaei M: Random allocation software for parallel group ran domized trials. BMC Med Res Methodol 2004; 4: 26.
  10. [18]18. Ware JE Jr., Sherbourne CD: The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 1992; 30: 473-83.
  11. [19]19. Rosenberg M: Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1965.
  12. [20]20. Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R: A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav 1983; 24: 385-96.
  13. [21]21. Shields SA: The body awareness questionnaire. Journal of personality Assessment 1989; 53: 802-15.
  14. [23]23. Lee JA, Kim JW, Kim DY: Effects of yoga exercise on serum adi ponectin and metabolic syndrome factors in obese postmenopausal women. Menopause 2012; 19: 296-301.
  15. [24]24. Rubin DB: Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. New York; John Wiley &amp; Sons 1987.
  16. [26]26. Verweij LM, Terwee CB, Proper KI, Hulshof CT, van Mechelen W: Measurement error of waist circumference: gaps in knowledge. Public Health Nutr 2013; 16: 281-8.
  17. [28]28. Rioux JG, Ritenbaugh C: Narrative review of yoga intervention clinical trials including weight-related outcomes. Altern Ther Health Med 2013; 19: 32-46.
  18. [29]29. Hagins M, Moore W, Rundle A: Does practicing hatha yoga satisfy recommendations for intensity of physical activity which improves and maintains health and cardiovascular fitness? BMC Complement Altern Med 2007; 7: 40.
  19. [30]30. Mody BS: Acute effects of Surya Namaskar on the cardiovascular &amp; metabolic system. J Bodyw Mov Ther 2011; 15: 343-7.
  20. [31]31. Clay CC, Lloyd LK, Walker JL, Sharp KR, Pankey RB: The metabolic cost of hatha yoga. J Strength Cond Res 2005; 19: 604-10.
  21. [32]32. Mcardle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL: Essentials of exercise physiology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins 2000.
  22. [33]33. Cramer H, Lauche R, Haller H, Dobos G: A systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga for low back pain. Clin J Pain 2013; 29: 450-60.
  23. [34]34. Cramer H, Lauche R, Langhorst J, Dobos G: Yoga for rheumatic diseases: a systematic review. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2013; 52: 2025-30.
  24. [35]35. Bryan S, Pinto Zipp G, Parasher R: The effects of yoga on psychosocial variables and exercise adherence: a randomized, controlled pilot study. Altern Ther Health Med 2012; 18: 50-9.
  25. [37]37. Chong CS, Tsunaka M, Tsang HW, Chan EP, Cheung WM: Effects of yoga on stress management in healthy adults: A systematic review. Altern Ther Health Med 2011; 17: 32-8.
  26. [38]38. Klatte R, Pabst S, Beelmann A, Rosendahl JS: The efficacy of bodyoriented yoga in mental disorders. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2016; 113: 195-202.
  27. [39]39. Dallman MF, Pecoraro N, Akana SF, et al.: Chronic stress and obesity: a new view of 'comfort food'. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003; 100: 11696-701.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Cramer, H., Thoms, M. S., Anheyer, D., Lauche, R., & Dobos, G.
Affiliations
University of Technology Sydney (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Deutsches Ärzteblatt international
Publisher
Deutscher Arzte-Verlag GmbH
Published
2016-09-30
Volume
113
Issue
39
Pages
645-652
ISSN
1866-0452 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3238/arztebl.2016.0645
PMC
PMC5098025
OpenAlex
W2563431891
Cited by
70
References
9
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2016: 1
FWCI
2.97
Type
journal article
Language
de
Open access
Locations
  • Deutsches Ärzteblatt international (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Cross Connect (Southern Cross University) (submittedVersion)
  • Universitätsbibliographie, Universität Duisburg-Essen (submittedVersion)
  • OPUS - Open Publications of UTS Scholars (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Universität Duisburg-Essen
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
Keywords
yoga, abdominal obesity, waist circumference, women, anthropometric measures, body fat percentage, muscle mass, health-related quality of life, self-esteem, subjective stress, body awareness, blood pressure, intervention safety
MeSH terms
Adult, Female, Humans, Obesity, Quality of Life, Yoga, Body Mass Index, Obesity, Abdominal

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review