Key result
Higher doses of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with a lower risk of incident diagnosed depression, with 280 minutes per week yielding a hazard ratio of 0.67 compared to no activity.
Why the study?
Little is known about the optimal dose and pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity needed to prevent depression.
Does a higher dose and specific pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity prevent diagnosed depression in adults?
Cohort (n=74,715)
Yes
Does a higher dose and specific pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity prevent diagnosed depression in adults?
Hazard Ratio: 0.67 (95% CI 0.6–0.74)
Higher doses of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, regardless of whether accumulated regularly or as a 'weekend warrior', are associated with a significantly lower risk of incident diagnosed depression.
Higher MVPA doses were associated with lower depression risk regardless of pattern; hypothesis-generating and requires RCTs before changing practice.
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the dose and pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to prevent depression. We aimed to assess the prospective association of dose and pattern of accelerometer-derived MVPA with the risk of diagnosed depression. METHODS: We included 74,715 adults aged 40-69 years from the UK Biobank cohort who were free of severe disease at baseline and participated in accelerometer measurements (mean age 55.2 years [SD 7.8]; 58% women). MVPA at baseline was derived through 1-week wrist-worn accelerometry. Diagnosed depression was defined by hospitalization with ICD-10 codes F32.0-F32.A. Restricted cubic splines and Cox regression determined the prospective association of dose and pattern of MVPA with the risk of incident depression. RESULTS: Over a median 7.9-year follow-up, there were 3,089 (4.1%) incident cases of depression. Higher doses of MVPA were curvilinearly associated with lower depression risk, with the largest minute-per-minute added benefits occurring between 5 (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.96-0.99]) and 280 (HR 0.67 [95% CI 0.60-0.74]) minutes per week (reference: 0 MVPA minutes). CONCLUSION: Regardless of pattern, higher doses of MVPA were associated with lower depression risk in a curvilinear manner, with the greatest incremental benefit per minute occurring during the first 4-5 h per week. Optimal benefits occurred around 15 h/week.
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Andersen et al. (2025) conducted a cohort in Diagnosed depression (n=74,715). Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) vs. 0 MVPA minutes per week was evaluated on Incident diagnosed depression (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.60-0.74). Higher doses of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with a lower risk of incident diagnosed depression, with 280 minutes per week yielding a hazard ratio of 0.67 compared to no activity.
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