A small, open-label trial, conducted in India, suggests that addition of yoga to conventional therapy for vasovagal syncope (VVS) can decrease the symptoms and improve the patients’ quality of life.

The study participants who practiced yoga had an improvement in VVS symptoms after just 6 weeks, with a reduction of 1.82 events at one year. Participants who practiced yoga also had significantly improved quality of life (QoL) scores by the end of the study. Fifty five patients were randomized to receive either a specialized yoga training program besides guideline-based therapy, or guideline-based therapy alone. At 12 months, the mean number of syncopal or presyncopal events was 0.7 ± 0.7 in the yoga group, compared with 2.52 ± 1.93 in the control group (P < .05). The reduction in events started by 6 weeks. About 43.3% patients in the intervention group and 16% patients in the control arm remained event-free at 12 months (P = .02). The findings were published online in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology… (Medscape)