US psychiatrists have pitted kundalini yoga against stress management education for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and found some benefit.

But in a comparison with the evidence-based psychotherapy CBT, the yoga failed the test of non-inferiority, they report.

As the yoga intervention was more effective than the active control arm of the trial, the results suggested the practice might still have a role to play in GAD management, the Harvard University, Massachusetts-led team said.

In the GATE (General Anxiety: A Treatment Evaluation) trial, 226 people with GAD attending two hospital clinics in Boston were randomised to CBT (90 people), kundalini yoga (93) or the active control, a stress education course (43).