Clinical Question: Is aerobic exerc...

Clinical Question: Is aerobic exercise effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression?

Setting: Outpatient (specialty)

subject of attention Design: Randomized controlled trial (single-blinded)

Allocation: Concealed

Synopsis: We know that exercise is an effective treatment for major depressive disorder. In this inquiry investigators randomly assigned 80 living bodys 20 to 45 years of age with mild to moderate depression, to single of five exercise treatment groups: 70 kcal for kg per week (low dose) performed in three or five sessions by week; 17.5 kcal per kg for week (high dose) performed in three or five sessions through week; or flexibility exercise alone (control) three days per week. The high dose is consistent with public health recommendations for physical activity. issues were assessed by persons blinded to treatment cluster assignment.

Of the 80 randomized participants, 10 (125 percent) were wasted to follow-up at 12 weeks. Using intention-to-treat analysis, patients assigned to either of the high-dose exercise form into groupss were significantly more likely to have a clinically relevant answer (defined as a 50 percent or more reduction in mean scores from baseline forward the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression) than patients in the direction group (42 versus 23 percent; number penuryed to treat [NNT] = five).

No significant differences occurr between the brace high-dose exercise groups. Patients in the low-dose exercise cluster who did three sessions for week also were more likely to have a significant rejoinder than patients in the command group (38 versus 23 percent; NNT = seven) unless there was no significant difference between the low-dose clump who did five sessions by means of week compared with the check group. The combined high-dose exercise assign places to was not significantly more effective than the combined low-dose exercise group

Bottom Line: High-dose and low-dose aerobic exercise are somewhat effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Exercising three times by week is at least as effective as five times by week. To give a real world example of "high-dose" exercise, a man weighing 70 kg (154 lb) exercising to a heart rate of 145 beats for minute for 30 minutes forward a treadmill expends approximately 350 kcal by session, requiring a total of three sessions through week. A previous study of walking or jogging at 70 to 80 percent of maximal aerobic intensity was also as effective as medicine therapy in treating mild depression (Blumenthal JA, et al. issues of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Arch Intern M October 25 1999;159:2349-56) (Level of Evidence: lb)

studious mood Reference: Dunn AL, et al. Exercise treatment for depression: efficacy and dose answer Am J Prev Med January 2005;28:1-8

Used with permission from Slawson D Aerobic exercise effective for mild to moderate depression. Accessed online March 1 2005 at: http://www.InfoPOEMs.com.

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