Exercise as medicine! Physical activity mitigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depressive symptoms in adults with depression

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 175; pp. 153 - 159
• Main Authors: Cassuriaga, Julia, Feter, Natan, da Silva, Luísa Silveira, Feter, Jayne, Delpino, Felipe Mendes, Rocha, Juliana Quadros Santos, Vieira, Yohana Pereira, Caputo, Eduardo Lucia, Reichert, Felipe Fossati, da Silva, Marcelo Cozzensa, Rombaldi, Airton José
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2024
• Subjects: Anxiety; Depression; Memory decline; Pandemic; Physical activity; Depression; Pandemic; Anxiety; Memory decline; Physical activity
• ISSN: 0022-3956; 1879-1379; 1879-1379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.05.031

We investigated the longitudinal association between physical activity (PA) and symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used data from baseline (June 2020) to wave 3 (June 2021) of the PAMPA Cohort, an ambispective cohort with adults in south Brazil. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale assessed depressive and anxiety symptoms in all waves. Participants reported frequency (minutes), type (aerobic, strength, combined), and place (out of home, at home) of physical activity at baseline. Generalized linear models were used to investigate the interaction between time and PA, adjusting for possible confounding variables. Subjective memory decline was assessed using multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models to obtain adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and respective 95% confidence interval (CI). Participants (n = 424) with self-reported clinically diagnosed depression were included. We observed a non-linear increase trajectory of depression during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. PA was associated with a slower trajectory of depressive (slope: −1.89; 95%CI: −3.34, −0.43 points) but not anxiety (slope: −1.33; 95%CI: −2.93, 0.25 points) symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants who continued physically active from pre-pandemic in wave 1 showed a lower risk of subjective memory decline during follow-up than those who persisted inactive in the same period (HR: 0.52; 95%CI: 0.30, 0.89). PA attenuated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depressive symptoms in adults living with depression in south Brazil. Regularity of physical activity was associated with fewer depression and anxiety symptoms and a lower risk of subjective memory decline. •We analyzed data from six LMICs, covering 41.8% of the world population in 2010.•1 in 3 cases of dementia are attributable to ten modifiable risk factors.•A higher fraction was observed in poor and rural areas.•7.162 million cases of dementia in these countries are potentially preventable.