Trial reportJournal of rehabilitation medicine2021
Impact of aerobic exercise on clinical and magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers in persons with multiple sclerosis: An exploratory randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 5 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of different exercise types on cognitive function in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Best practice exercise for emerging depression in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitation · 2024Pooled it
- Safety of exercise training in multiple sclerosis: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Understanding lifestyle self-management regimens that improve the life quality of people living with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Targeting Lifestyle in CNS Inflammatory Demyelinating Diseases: Insights from Diet and Exercise as Potential Disease Modifiers.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- Effect of Aerobic Exercise versus Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation on Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Causal relationships of grey matter structures in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: insights from Mendelian randomization.Brain communications · 2024Article
- The relevance of BDNF for neuroprotection and neuroplasticity in multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Neuroimaging Technology in Exercise Neurorehabilitation Research in Persons with MS: A Scoping Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Aerobic training improves blood-brain barrier and neuronal apoptosis in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2022Article
- Effects of Exercise Training on Neurotrophic Factors and Subsequent Neuroprotection in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- The Role of Nutritional Lifestyle and Physical Activity in Multiple Sclerosis Pathogenesis and Management: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is insufficient knowledge about how aerobic exercise impacts the disease process of multiple sclerosis, which is characterized by accumulation of white matter lesions and accelerated brain atrophy.
objectiveTo examine the effect of aerobic exercise on neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration by magnetic resonance imaging and clinical measures of disease activity and progression in persons with multiple sclerosis. PATIENTS AND
methodsAn exploratory 12-week randomized control trial including an intervention group (n = 14, 12 weeks of aerobic exercise twice weekly) and a control group (n = 14, continuation of usual lifestyle). Primary outcomes were magnetic resonance imaging measures (lesion load, brain structure volume change), while secondary outcomes included disability measures, blood cytokine levels, cognitive tests and patient-reported outcomes.
resultsThe effects of aerobic exercise on whole brain and grey matter atrophy were minor. Surprisingly, the observed effect on volume (atrophy) in selected brain substructures was heterogeneous. Putaminal and posterior cingulate volumes decreased, parahippocampal gyrus volume increased, thalamus and amygdala volume remained the same, and active lesion load and count decreased. However, apart from weak improvements in walking speed and brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, there was no effect of aerobic exercise on other clinical, cognitive or patient-reported outcomes.
conclusionThese results suggest that aerobic exercise in persons with multiple sclerosis has a positive effect on the volume of some of the substructures of the brain, possibly indicating a slowing of the neurodegenerative process in these regions, but a negative impact on the volume of some other substructures, with unclear implications. Further research is needed to determine whether the slight decrease in active lesion volume and count implies an anti-inflammatory effect of aerobic exercise, and the exact significance of the heterogeneous results of volumetric assessments.
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Identifiers
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.