SynthesisNeuroImage2016
A systematic review of MRI studies examining the relationship between physical fitness and activity and the white matter of the ageing brain.
Synthesis in NeuroImage, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 145 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
145 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Selected social and lifestyle correlates of brain health markers: the Cross-Cohort Collaboration Consortium.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Pooled it
- Uncovering the hidden effects of repetitive subconcussive head impact exposure: A mega-analytic approach characterizing seasonal brain microstructural changes in contact and collision sports athletes.Human brain mapping · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of physical exercise on white matter integrity and cognitive function in older adults.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise with brain white matter in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Exercise effects on depression: Possible neural mechanisms.General hospital psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of aerobic exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness on white matter free water fraction in older adults: a 1-year randomized controlled trial.GeroScience · 2026Trial
- No long-term benefits from resistance training on brain grey matter volumes in active older adults at retirement age.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Changes in cardiovascular health and white matter integrity with aerobic exercise, cognitive and combined training in physically inactive healthy late-middle-aged adults: the "Projecte Moviment" randomized controlled trial.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Trial
- Twelve weeks of physical exercise breaks with coordinative exercises at the workplace increase the sulcal depth and decrease gray matter volume in brain structures related to visuomotor processes.Brain structure & function · 2024Trial
- Physical Activity and Cerebral Small Vein Integrity in Older Adults.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2019Trial
- Nutritional supplementation boosts aerobic exercise effects on functional brain systems.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2019Trial
- Effects of Physical Activity on Brain White Matter Integrity Are Region-, Dose-, and Age-Dependent: Findings From the Population-Based Rhineland Study.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Physical activity and the aging brain: A narrative review.Journal of health psychology · 2026Review
- Brain resting state functional connectivity changes with aerobic exercise, and mindfulness: A narrative review.Sports medicine and health science · 2026Review
- Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness with brain white matter microstructural integrity and white matter hyperintensity volume across the adult lifespan.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Muscle and mind: rewiring cognitive-motor recovery through exercise-responsive neurophysiology in neurological populations.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Article
- Exercise-induced attenuation of the lateral habenula: a multi-axial quantitative synthesis of circuit-level resilience in depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neuroprotective cellular and molecular mechanisms of physical exercise on neurodegenerative diseases.ADMET & DMPK · 2026Review
85 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Higher levels of physical fitness or activity (PFA) have been shown to have beneficial effects on cognitive function and grey matter volumes in older adults. However, the relationship between PFA and the brain's white matter (WM) is not yet well established. Here, we aim to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of magnetic resonance imaging studies examining the effects of PFA on the WM of the ageing brain. Twenty-nine studies were included in the review: eleven examined WM volume, fourteen WM lesions, and nine WM microstructure. While many studies found that higher levels of PFA were associated with greater WM volumes, reduced volume or severity of WM lesions, or improved measures of WM microstructure, a number of negative findings have also been published. Meta-analyses of global measures of WM volume and WM lesion volume yielded significant, but small, effect sizes. Overall, we found evidence for cautious support of links between PFA and WM structure, and highlighted key areas for future research including the extent to which the relationship between PFA and WM structure is anatomically specific, the influence of possible confounding factors, and the relationship between PFA, WM and cognition.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.