Physical exercise interventions for perinatal depression symptoms in women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundThe previous meta-analysis indicated that physical exercise could play a crucially therapeutic role in reducing perinatal depression symptoms in women. However, the efficacy varies across different exercise types, forms, intensities, and duration.AimThe purpose of this study was to review and evaluate the effects of different types, forms, intensities, and duration of exercise for improving perinatal depressive symptoms.DesignA systematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsRandomized controlled trials until December 2021 were searched from seven databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO. The risk of bias in eligible trials was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. When high heterogeneity was tested, we used random-effects models. A funnel plot was used to assess the publication bias. This review was performed under the PRISMA guidelines, Consensus on Exercise Reporting (CERT) checklist and Cochrane Handbook. The certainty of the body of evidence was assessed using the GRADE method.ResultsOf 1,573 records, 20 trials were identified in this study. The results of this review revealed that women with perinatal depression symptoms gained benefits from physical exercise [OR = 0.62, 95% CI (0.45, 0.86), P = 0.004; MD = −0.57, 95% CI (−0.83, −0.30), P < 0.0001]. Type of walking [SMD = −1.06, 95% CI (−1.92, −0.19), P < 0.00001], form of “Individual + group-based”exercise [SMD = −0.91, 95% CI (−0.80, −0.03), P = 0.04], intensity of ≥150 min per week [SMD = −0.84, 95% CI (−1.53, −0.15), P = 0.02], and ≥12 weeks duration [SMD = −0.53, 95% CI (−0.75, −0.31), P < 0.00001] seemed to generate more prominent improvement on perinatal depression symptoms.ConclusionPhysical exercise showed a significant effect on reducing perinatal depressive symptoms. This meta-analysis provides an important update on exercise’s efficacy in treating perinatal depression. Further higher quality and large-scale trials are needed to substantiate our findings.Systematic review registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/], identifier [CRD42022296230].

Resistance exercise interventions for sarcopenia and nutritional status of maintenance hemodialysis patients: a meta-analysis

“…First, we integrated the relevant clinical outcomes and analyzed the level of evidence and the shortcomings of resistance exercise applied in clinical trials, which provides a reference for clinical staff to develop more detailed and comprehensive interventions. In future studies of exercise interventions for MHD patients, we may consider stratifying the intensity and frequency of interventions, gender, age, and dialysis history of patients, and extending the duration of interventions to more than 48 weeks to observe changes in clinical outcome indicators, in addition, we need to improve the quality of clinical trials by using proper methods of randomized controlled trials and measures such as allocation concealment and blinding to provide high-quality evidence for the development of future guidelines for prescribing exercise interventions ( Liu, Wang & Cao, 2022 ).…”