Trial reportEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience2025
Bright light therapy versus physical exercise to prevent co-occurring depression in adolescents and young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a multicentre, three-arm, randomised controlled, pilot phase-IIa trial.
Trial report in European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03371810 (Pilot Randomized-controlled Phase-IIa Trial on the Prevention of Comorbid Depression and Obesity in Attention-deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Pilot Randomized-controlled Phase-IIa Trial on the Prevention of Comorbid Depression and Obesity in Attention-deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of exercise interventions on mental health in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Exercise as a multimodal intervention for adolescent depression: integrating neuroplasticity, BDNF signaling, stress biomarkers, exercise intensity, digital mental health interventions, and precision psychiatry.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Cone-Specific Filter-Based Neuromodulation: A Proposed Clinical Framework for Amblyopia, Strabismus, and ADHD.Clinics and practice · 2025Article
- Aerobic exercise therapy in severe mental disorders: from methods to underlying mechanisms.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors at 12 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Depression is common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but preventive behavioural interventions are lacking. This randomised controlled, pilot phase-IIa trial aimed to study a physical exercise intervention (EI) and bright light therapy (BLT)-both implemented and monitored in an individual, naturalistic setting via a mobile health (m-health) system-for feasibility of trial design and interventions, and to estimate their effects on depressive symptoms in young people with ADHD. Two hundred seven participants aged 14-45 years were randomised to 10-week add-on intervention of either BLT (10,000 lx; daily 30-min sessions) (n = 70), EI (aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities 3 days/ week) (n = 69), or treatment-as-usual (TAU) (n = 68), of whom 165 (80%) were retained (BLT: n = 54; EI: n = 52; TAU: n = 59). Intervention adherence (i.e. ≥ 80% completed sessions) was very low for both BLT (n = 13, 22%) and EI (n = 4, 7%). Usability of the m-health system to conduct interventions was limited as indicated by objective and subjective data. Safety was high and comparable between groups. Changes in depressive symptoms (assessed via observer-blind ratings, Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology) between baseline and end of intervention were small (BLT: -0.124 [95% CI: -2.219, 1.971], EI: -2.646 [95% CI: -4.777, -0.515], TAU: -1.428 [95% CI: -3.381, 0.526]) with no group differences [F(2,153) = 1.45, p = 0.2384]. These findings suggest that the m-health approach did not achieve feasibility of EI and BLT in young people with ADHD. Prior to designing efficacy studies, strategies how to achieve high intervention adherence should be specifically investigated in this patient group.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03371810, 13 December 2017.
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