Abstract: We included eight studies in the review. All outcomes were short term (less than six months). There were clear differences in a number of outcomes in favour of the yoga group, although these were based on one study each, with the exception of leaving the study early. These included mental state (improvement in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, 1 RCT, n = 83, RR 0.70 CI 0.55 to 0.88, medium-quality evidence), social functioning (improvement in Social Occupational Functioning Scale, 1 RCT, n = 83, RR 0.88 CI 0.77 to 1, medium-quality evidence), quality of life (average change 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) quality-of-life subscale, 1 RCT, n = 60, MD 15.50, 95% CI 4.27 to 26.73, low-quality evidence), and leaving the study early (8 RCTs, n = 457, RR 0.91 CI 0.6 to 1.37, medium-quality evidence). For the outcome of physical health, there was not a clear difference between groups (average change SF-36 physical-health subscale, 1 RCT, n = 60, MD 6.60, 95% CI -2.44 to 15.64, low-quality evidence). Only one study reported adverse effects, finding no incidence of adverse events in either treatment group. This review was subject to a considerable number of missing outcomes, which included global state, change in cognition, costs of care, effect on standard care, service intervention, disability, and activities of daily living. Even though we found some positive evidence in favour of yoga over standard-care control, this should be interpreted cautiously in view of outcomes largely based each on one study with limited sample sizes and short-term follow-up. Overall, many outcomes were not reported and evidence presented in this review is of low to moderate quality - -too weak to indicate that yoga is superior to standard-care control for the management of schizophrenia.

Plain-language summary: We included eight short-term studies (less than six months) that randomised people with schizophrenia to either receive sessions of yoga or standard care in this review. The yoga programmes described varied from 45 minutes to 1 hour in length, and from 8 sessions to a maximum of 36 sessions. We found these studies by electronic searching of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's register in January 2015. All studies continued prescribed antipsychotic treatment for the participants. Some results suggest that yoga may be beneficial for people with schizophrenia. Yoga may be beneficial to mental state, social functioning and quality of life but the available evidence is weak and needs to be treated with a good degree of caution. No adverse effects were found by the one trial that reported this outcome. Several other important outcomes were not addressed by the studies, including changes in cognition, economic considerations, and daily living activities. There was not enough good-quality evidence in this review to claim that yoga should be prescribed as an add-on to standard care for schizophrenia. Evidence was limited and weak. The number of included studies was small, and only short-term follow-up was reported. More, larger, and long-term trials that focus on important outcomes are therefore necessary. Ben Gray, Senior Peer Researcher, McPin Foundation.http://mcpin.org/