Factors prospectively associated with physical activity and dietary related outcomes in people with severe mental illness: A systematic review of longitudinal studies

Abstract

Understanding factors that contribute towards physical activity and diet outcomes are important for health improvement in people with severe mental illness. Cross-sectional findings on factors associated with diet and physical activity outcomes provide limited information on what predicts changes or longterm outcomes in lifestyle behaviours in people with severe mental illness. A systematic review was therefore conducted to identify prospective studies with quantitative data on baseline factors associated with follow-up diet or physical activity related outcomes. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus and grey literature databases were searched from inception to March 2018. From 6921 studies, 5 were eligible for physical activity related outcomes and 2 for diet related outcomes. The follow-up duration was 4 weeks to 24 months and participants were mostly diagnosed with schizophrenia. Older age was commonly related to better physical activity related outcomes, whilst higher negative symptoms were related to poorer-related outcomes. Physical activity intentions and gender were unrelated to physical activity outcomes. There was a lack of data on factors influencing dietary outcomes. Although there were some common factors predictive of physical activity including older age and negative symptoms, more high-quality research is needed to determine the effect of sociodemographic, mental health, social, clinical, lifestyle and other factors on both physical activity and dietary outcomes.

Association between aerobic fitness and the functional connectome in patients with schizophrenia

“…Higher patients’ aerobic fitness levels are linked to lower FC between parts of the subcortical nuclei (basal ganglia, thalamus and amygdala [ 50 ]) and the cerebellum leading to attenuated total symptom severity. This is in line with previous studies suggesting a beneficial relation between aerobic fitness and different domains of psychiatric symptoms [ 22 , 71 , 72 ]. Within this association, our results are the first underlining the mediating role of FC between the subcortical nuclei and the cerebellum.…”

Adherence to Dietary Recommendations in Organized Living Beneficiaries with Severe Mental Disorders and Their Caregivers

“…Numerous studies showed a higher prevalence of smoking among schizophrenia patients [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In Jakobsen et al’s [ 13 ] study, more than half of the participants (52.1%) reported daily smoking, whereas in Heald et al [ 11 ], 64.9% were smoking.…”

“…In addition to an elevated body mass index (BMI), studies of body composition have shown an increased proportion of fat tissue and a decreased proportion of muscle mass [ 7 , 9 ]. Several factors that may contribute to this are indicated in the literature: socioeconomic factors [ 10 ], use of tobacco products [ 11 , 12 ], poorer dietary habits [ 13 ], low physical activity [ 14 ], and metabolic disorders caused by antipsychotic therapy [ 7 , 15 ]. The poorer dietary habits are manifested through a high intake of fat, saturated fatty acids, sugar, and alcohol on one side and a reduced intake of fiber, fruits, vegetables, and fish on the other [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”