Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36113975›Full record

SynthesisBritish journal of sports medicine2022

Comparative effectiveness of exercise, antidepressants and their combination in treating non-severe depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Francesco Recchia, Chit K Leung, Edwin C Chin, Daniel Y Fong, David Montero, Calvin P Cheng, Suk Yu Yau, Parco M Siu

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic ReviewNetwork Meta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in British journal of sports medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
15.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Francesco RecchiaDivision of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Chit K LeungDivision of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Edwin C ChinDivision of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Daniel Y FongSchool of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
David MonteroDivision of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Calvin P ChengDepartment of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Suk Yu YauDepartment of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Parco M SiuDivision of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong pmsiu@hku.hk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3548-5058
University of Hong Kong · HKChinese University of Hong Kong · HKHong Kong Polytechnic University · HK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo assess the comparative effectiveness of exercise, antidepressants and their combination for alleviating depressive symptoms in adults with non-severe depression.

designSystematic review and network meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus and SportDiscus. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (1990-present) that examined the effectiveness of an exercise, antidepressant or combination intervention against either treatment alone or a control/placebo condition in adults with non-severe depression. STUDY SELECTION AND ANALYSIS: Risk of bias, indirectness and the overall confidence in the network were assessed by two independent investigators. A frequentist network meta-analysis was performed to examine postintervention differences in depressive symptom severity between groups. Intervention drop-out was assessed as a measure of treatment acceptability.

resultsTwenty-one randomised controlled trials (n=2551) with 25 comparisons were included in the network. There were no differences in treatment effectiveness among the three main interventions (exercise vs antidepressants: standardised mean differences, SMD, -0.12; 95% CI -0.33 to 0.10, combination versus exercise: SMD, 0.00; 95% CI -0.33 to 0.33, combination vs antidepressants: SMD, -0.12; 95% CI -0.40 to 0.16), although all treatments were more beneficial than controls. Exercise interventions had higher drop-out rates than antidepressant interventions (risk ratio 1.31; 95% CI 1.09 to 1.57). Heterogeneity in the network was moderate (τ

conclusionsThe results suggest no difference between exercise and pharmacological interventions in reducing depressive symptoms in adults with non-severe depression. These findings support the adoption of exercise as an alternative or adjuvant treatment for non-severe depression in adults. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD4202122656.

Indexed as

Antidepressive AgentsDepressionAdultExerciseHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment OutcomeAntidepressive AgentsSports medicine

Identifiers

PMID36113975
PMCPMC9685718
OpenAlexW4296072841

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.