CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 87Physical Activity and HealthTreatment of Major DepressionAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Moderating Effects of Exercise Duration and Intensity in Neuromuscular vs. Endurance Exercise Interventions for the Treatment of Depression: A Meta-Analytical Review

Open access
Nebiker, Lukas, Lichtenstein, Eric, Minghetti, Alice, Zahner, Lukas, Gerber, Markus, Faude, Oliver, Donath, Lars·2018·Frontiers in Psychiatry
DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00305PMC PMC6060256
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Background Exercise training is a beneficial treatment strategy for depression. Previous meta-analytical reviews mainly examined the effect of aerobic exercise on depressive symptoms neglecting com-parisons with neuromuscular training and meta-regression considering relevant exercise training prescriptors such as exercise duration, intensity, number of exercise sessions and fre-quency. Methods A structured literature search was conducted in biomedical and psychological databases and study selection was conducted following the PICOS approach. (Randomized) controlled trials that compared supervised neuromuscular or endurance exercise interventions with an inactive control group (CON) in clinically depressed in- or outpatients over 18 years were included. Eligibility and study quality were evaluated by two independent researchers. Standardized mean differences (SMD) for the reduction of depressive symptoms, measured with different evalua-tion scales (e.g., BDI, HAM-D, PHQ-9, HRSD, MADRS, GDS) were calculated with the ad-justed Hedges’g equation as main outcome for the comparison of endurance and neuromuscular exercise interventions vs. CON. Statistical analyses were conducted using a random effects in-verse-variance model. Multivariate meta-regression analysis was performed in order to examine the modulating effects of exercise training prescriptors. Results 27 trials with 1,452 clinically depressed adults were included. 20 out of 27 included trials reached a PEDro score > 6, representing high-quality. Irrespective of the exercise mode and study quality, large effects in favor of exercise compared to the control condition were found. Compared to CON, sensitivity analyses revealed a moderate to large effect in favor of endur-ance exercise (SMD: -0.79 (90% CI: -1.10, -0.48; p < 0.00001, I2 = 84%) and a large effect size in favor of neuromuscular exercise (SMD: -1.14 (90 CI: -1.50, -0.78); p < 0.00001, I2 = 80%). These effects decreased to moderate for endurance and remained large for neuromuscular trial when considering studies of high quality, indicating a significant difference (p=0.04). Multivariate meta- regression revealed that exercise duration in endurance trials and exercise intensi-ty in neuromuscular trials had a significantly moderating effect. Conclusions Neuromuscular exercise interventions seem to be more effective than endurance exercise inter-ventions. Interestingly, exercise duration and exercise intensity moderated the effect size mean-ingfully. This result might be used on exercise in depression to increase efficacy.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00305

Cites

61 of 61 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Effects of strength training may persist over and above those of aerobic exercise alone.

    “with effects that may persist over and above those of aerobic exercise alone 93 .”

    From A meta-review of "lifestyle psychiatry": the role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders (2020) · cites this paper as [93]

    The Discussion (‘Comparing of endurance and neuromuscular exercise interventions’; page unavailable) says neuromuscular exercise can have a larger antidepressant effect than endurance exercise when only stronger studies are considered, and highlights the potential of strength training. The paper does not establish that strength-training effects persist over time or that adding strength training to aerobic exercise provides a lasting additional benefit. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 62 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [55]Deeks J Higgins JP Statistical Algorithms in Review Manager (2007).

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Nebiker, L., Lichtenstein, E., Minghetti, A., Zahner, L., Gerber, M., Faude, O., & Donath, L.
Affiliations
  • University of Basel (CH)
  • German Sport University Cologne (DE)
Corresponding author
Donath, Lars
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2018-07-19
Volume
9
Pages
305-305
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00305
PMC
PMC6060256
OpenAlex
W2808783093
Cited by
87
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 1
FWCI
6.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • edoc (University of Basel) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
depression, exercise therapy, neuromuscular training, endurance exercise, aerobic exercise, exercise duration, exercise intensity, depressive symptoms, treatment moderators, physical activity interventions, depression treatment efficacy, quality of evidence, study quality bias, publication bias, small sample bias, heterogeneity bias, small study size bias, selection bias, attrition bias, reporting bias

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review