ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2022
Personalized individual-based exercise prescriptions are effective in treating depressive symptoms of college students during the COVID-19: A randomized controlled trial in China.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dose-response relationship of exercise interventions on sleep quality in patients with depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative effects of exercise modalities on depression, anxiety, and stress in university students: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The intervention effect of long-term exercise on depression and anxiety in college students: a three-level meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of different exercise interventions on depressive symptoms among college students: a network meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Optimal intensity and dose of exercise to improve university students' mental health: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of 48 randomized controlled trials.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Resistance training for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The effectiveness of physical activity interventions in improving higher education students' mental health: A systematic review.Health promotion international · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of physical exercise on depression among college students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PeerJ · 2024Pooled it
- Interpretable depressive symptoms screening via statistical reasoning-augmented large language models using wearable and environmental data.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Molecules of mood: the integrated molecular transducers of exercise's antidepressant effects.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2026Review
- A study on predictive factors and mediational pathways of depression among college students in China based on structural equation modeling.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Can exercise truly alleviate mild-to-moderate and subthreshold depression? Evidence from randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Physical Activity Levels and Barriers Among Young People with Mental Disorders: A Mixed Methods Analysis Supporting the Development of a National Sport Mental Health Clinic.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effect and acceptability of different exercise modes on adult patients with clinically diagnosed depression: a network meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A comprehensive review on the impact of polyphenol supplementation and exercise on depression and brain function parameters.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2025Review
- Mechanisms of the biological response cascade to exercise-induced stress: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Exercise as an antidepressant: exploring its therapeutic potential.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously increased depression prevalence among the public, including Chinese college students. However, many exercise cannot be performed as usual under the stay-at-home order. This study was a 12-week three-arm randomized controlled trial using the intention-to-treat principle, aiming to explore and compare the feasibility and effect of individual-based personalized aerobic-exercise and resistance-training prescriptions on depressive symptoms in college students, and conclude with some recommendations for individual-based exercise prescriptions. Methods: Eighty-six college students with depressive symptoms were randomized into aerobic-exercise (AE), resistance-training (RT), and wait-list control (WLC) groups. Participants in two experimental groups received 12-week personalized AE and RT prescriptions on their individual situations, respectively. No intervention was implemented on participants in the WLC group. Depressive symptoms and physical activity (PA) were measured by Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), respectively. All data were collected at the baseline, 4, 8, and 12 weeks, and 4-week post-intervention. Results: At 12 weeks, 72.09% of depressive participants improved to "normal." Participants exhibited a statistical reduction in SDS in all 3 groups ( Conclusion: Personalized exercise prescriptions have good feasibility as they can increase adherence to intervention and reduce serious adverse events. Besides, individual-based personalized aerobic-exercise and resistance-training prescriptions result in a similar effect in relieving depressive symptoms and improving physical activity in college students. The individual-based exercise programs performed in 45- to 60- min with progressive moderate-to-vigorous intensity, 3 times/week for at least 12 weeks, may reduce depressive symptoms in college students during the COVID-19.
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