Aerobic Physical Activity Reduces Depression in Patients With Cancer

Significant reduction seen in secondary outcome of long-term depression but not in medium-term depression

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Oct. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Aerobic physical activity (APA) is associated with a small but significant reduction in depression among adults with cancer, according to a review published online Oct. 8 in JAMA Network Open.

Matthew Kulchycki, M.D., from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether APA reduces depression severity in patients with cancer. The meta-analysis included 25 randomized clinical trials with 1,931 adults with cancer, which compared APA interventions to usual care, wait-list control, attention control, or no intervention. Ten of the trials had a low risk for bias.

The researchers found that across the 25 trials, APA was associated with reduced self-reported depression (standardized mean difference, –0.38). This decrease was also significant for long-term depression across three trials with 299 participants (standardized mean difference, –0.32) but not for medium-term depression across two trials with 143 participants.

“More research is warranted to ascertain the efficacy of APA compared with other established effective interventions for depression and in combination with other established effective interventions for reducing depression in patients with cancer,” the authors write. “Future studies should also investigate how preexisting diagnoses of depression and more granular cancer treatment-related factors may modify the effects of APA on depressive symptoms.”