Aerobic exercise capacity: an important correlate of psychosocial function in first episode psychosis

max) or by standardized exercisetests, such as walking-based protocols that measure total dis-tance achieved in a given timeframe. Vancampfort et al. (2)first reported an association between exercise capacity and glo-bal functioning in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. Astrong relationship was found between the distance achievedon a standardized walk-test (a validated measure of aerobicexercise capacity) and the Global Assessment of Functioningscore (GAF) (2). Although causality cannot be establishedthrough a cross-sectional study, the findings provide furtherjustification for the inclusion of physical activity interventionsin schizophrenia, and the importance of examining changes inmaximal aerobic capacity, particularly given the potentialimpact that such strategies may have on physical health, men-tal health, and overall psychosocial functioning (3, 4).We aimed to replicate the findings of Vancampfort et al. (2)in a sample of young people experiencing a first episode of psy-chosis (FEP) attending a community treatment service in Syd-ney, Australia. Nineteen young people (19.9 2.4 years; 53%male) completed a staged submaximal exercise test on a cycleergometer within 4 weeks of referral to the service. Submaxi-mal exercise tests are a cheap, feasible, and valid alternative tomaximal exercise testing for both the general and clinical popu-lations. Submaximal exercise testing relies on heart rateresponse to a given workload, to estimate exercise capacity.The current study utilized the Young Men’s Christian Associa-tion (YMCA) protocol involving two, 3-min stages of continu-ous cycling at a cadence of 50 RPM.