Key result
Each extra day of vigorous exercise was associated with 11% decreased odds of clinical depression.
Why the study?
Depression is a major public health concern affecting over 4% of the global population, and identifying new nonpharmacologic recommendations may help decrease disease burden.
Does increased vigorous exercise and decreased sedentary activity reduce clinical depression in United States adults?
Cohort (n=8,091)
Does increased vigorous exercise and decreased sedentary activity reduce clinical depression in United States adults?
In a large, representative US cohort, increased vigorous exercise was associated with lower odds of clinical depression, whereas increased sedentary activity was associated with higher odds.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Vigorous exercise was associated with fewer depressive symptoms; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective confirmation before clinical adoption.
Background and aims Depression is a major public health concern that affects over 4% of the global population. Identification of new nonpharmacologic recommendations will help decrease the burden of disease. The overarching of this study was to examine the association between physical activity and depressive symptoms in a large sample of adults in the United States. Methods Presently, researchers utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES 2017–2020), which is a retrospective, complex, multistage, representative, and modern cohort of the United States. Adult patients ( > 18 years; N = 8091) with complete 9‐item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9) information were included in the study. The PHQ‐9 is a well‐validated survey, per literature, scores ≥10 are considered to have clinically relevant depression. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression was fit for active and sedentary activities on clinical depression (PHQ‐9 ≥ 10). The acquisition and analysis of the data within this study were approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Ethics Review Board. Results After adjusting for potential confounders like age, race, sex, and income, we found that increased vigorous exercise was associated with lower rates of depressive symptoms. Each extra day of vigorous exercise was associated with 11% decreased odds of depression (odd ratio [OR]: 0.89, confidence interval [CI]: 0.83–0.96, p < 0.01). Increased sedentary activity was associated with increased depression. Each extra hour per day of sedentary activity was associated with a 6% increase in odds of depression (OR: 1.06, (1.02–1.10, p < 0.01). Conclusion To conclude, exercise appears to be protective against depressive symptoms; however, further prospective studies are required to ascertain whether exercise causes decreased depressive symptoms.
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Huang et al. (2023) conducted a cohort in Depression (n=8,091). Vigorous exercise was evaluated on clinical depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.96, p=< 0.01). Each extra day of vigorous exercise was associated with 11% decreased odds of clinical depression.
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