SynthesisExperimental and clinical psychopharmacology2025
The effects of exercise interventions on substance-use outcomes: A meta-analytic and systematic review.
Synthesis in Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparative effects of different types of exercise interventions on addictive craving, negative affect, and cognitive function in substance use disorder: a substance-subgroup stratified network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Feasibility and acceptability of a physical activity intervention to reduce prenatal cannabis use: results of an open pilot trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A number of studies have been conducted to assess the efficacy of exercise-based interventions for substance-use disorders. Nicotine use has been overrepresented in prior meta-analytic and systematic reviews, potentially obscuring the effects of exercise on outcomes related to other drugs. The aim of this meta-analysis and systematic review was to offer an updated account of the impact of exercise on substance-use outcomes for drugs other than nicotine. Eligible studies included peer reviewed articles published before August 2023 describing randomized controlled trials or clinical trials involving adults in which exercise served as the primary treatment intervention and substance use and/or craving outcomes were assessed for drugs other than nicotine. In addition to omnibus effects, meta-regression models were conducted to assess study design (within vs. between), data collection (acute vs. long-term), and outcome measure (drug craving vs. drug use) as potential moderating variables. A total of 19 articles describing 17 unique studies were selected for analysis, including data from 1,363 individual participants. An omnibus robust variance estimation meta-analysis indicated a significant reduction in substance-use outcomes following exercise intervention. The moderator analysis additionally indicated a significant effect of design type such that between-subject designs displayed smaller magnitude reductions than within-subject designs. Other potential moderators were not significant. These findings indicate that a variety of exercise-based interventions produce moderate improvements in substance use and craving for people using nonmedical drugs and corroborate prior reports that exercise is effective as an adjunctive or standalone treatment for substance-use disorder. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
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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.