Review and Special ArticlesPhysical Activity and the Prevention of Depression: A Systematic Review of Prospective Studies
Section snippets
Context
The WHO has predicted that depression will make one of the greatest contributions to overall global disease burden by the year 2020.1 This prediction is alarming when considering depression’s severity in causing disability.2 Depression is commonly associated with high morbidity and mortality rates, via increased risk of suicide and major implications to brain and somatic functioning.3, 4, 5 Fortunately, the realm of physical activity (PA) shows promising evidence that PA can treat depression
Evidence Acquisition
To conduct this systematic review, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines13 were followed to ensure that methodologic steps were addressed in completing a comprehensive search.
Study Identification and Selection
The initial search yielded a total of 6363 citations: 2111 in Embase, 1762 in MEDLINE, 1004 in PubMed, 693 in Cochrane, 684 in PsycINFO, and 109 in SPORTDiscus. All abstracts were screened, and 90 studies were found to be potentially eligible for inclusion. After a thorough selection process (Figure 1), 30 studies were included for analyses. A total of 60 studies were excluded (experimental or cross-sectional in design [n=17]; not specific to depression [n=12]; had no cut-off criteria score to
Discussion
The primary objective of this review was to determine if PA (i.e., aerobic PA) can prevent future depression. Promising scientific evidence (25 of 30 studies) demonstrates that baseline PA is negatively associated with a risk of subsequent depression. The majority of these studies were of high methodologic quality, providing a solid indication that PA may prevent future depression. A few studies in the review concluded that the protective effect of PA on depression is specific to women and
Acknowledgments
The corresponding author is funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), through the Population Level Interventions for Chronic Disease Prevention (PICDIP) training grant.
The authors acknowledge the work of Mehala Subramanieapillai for her time and dedication in assisting with data extraction.
GM is funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), through the Population Level Interventions for Chronic Disease Prevention (PICDIP) training grant.
No financial disclosures
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