The effects of massage therapy alone and in combination with other complementary therapies on immune system measures and quality of life in human immunodeficiency virus

Objectives: Determine effects of massage therapy alone and in combination w ith exercise or stress management-biofeedback treatment on enumerative immu ne measures, and quality of life in moderately immunocompromised human immu nodeficiency virus (HIV) subjects. Design: Randomized prospective controlled trial with 42 subjects randomly a ssigned to one of three treatment groups or a control group receiving stand ard care and intervention over a 12-week period. Setting: Academic medical center. Subjects: Forty-two (42) subjects with HIV infection (40 males; 2 females; aged 27-50 years) met eligibility requirements of CD4(+) lymphocyte cell co unt greater than 200 cells per microliter; no present or recent signs or sy mptoms of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and were not hospitali zed. Interventions: A 45-minute overall body massage once per week; similar mass age and supervised aerobic exercise 2 other days per week; similar massage and biofeedback stress management once per week; control receiving standard treatment. Outcome Measures: Changes in peripheral blood levels of CD4(+) lymphocytes, CD8(+) lymphocytes, CD4(+)/CD8(+) lymphocyte ratio and natural killer cell s; six dimension quality-of-life assessment. Results: No significant changes (p > 0.05) were found in any enumerative im mune measure. Significant (p < 0.05) differences for quality-of-life assess ment were in health care utilization and health perceptions, favoring massa ge and stress management compared to massage only and controls. Conclusions: Massage administered once per week to HIV-infected persons doe s not enhance immune measures. Massage combined with stress management favo rably alters health perceptions and leads to less utilization of health car e resources. This suggests that HIV-infected persons receiving massage and stress management would tend to not overutilize health care services, thus possibly reducing health care costs.