Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41856274›Full record

ArticleJournal of sport and health science2026

Effects of a year-long aerobic exercise intervention on neuroendocrine, autonomic, and neural correlates of stress, emotion, and cardiovascular disease risk in midlife adults.

Peter J Gianaros, Lu Wan, Mia K DeCataldo, Cristina Molina Hidalgo, Mark R Scudder, George Grove, Abigail Shell, Chae Ryon Kang, E Lydia Wu-Chung, Anna L Marsland and 3 more

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of sport and health science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

13 authors.

Peter J GianarosDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: gianaros@pitt.edu.
Lu WanAdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience Institute, Orlando, FL 32084, USA.
Mia K DeCataldoDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Cristina Molina HidalgoAdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience Institute, Orlando, FL 32084, USA.
Mark R ScudderDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
George GroveDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Abigail ShellDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Chae Ryon KangDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
E Lydia Wu-ChungDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Anna L MarslandDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Thomas W KamarckDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Javier RaseroSchool of Data Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
Kirk I EricksonAdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience Institute, Orlando, FL 32084, USA. Electronic address: Kirk.Erickson@adventhealth.com.

Funding

Substrates of Threat and Reward Sensitivity and CVD RiskP01HL040962 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI ERICKSON, KIRK I · 1988 to 2022
$31.1M
NHLBI NIH HHS P01 HL040962
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe study aimed to test whether an aerobic exercise intervention that improves cardiorespiratory fitness reduces (a) biomarkers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and (b) indicators of stress- and emotion-related neuroendocrine, autonomic, and neural activity.

methodsIn a preregistered 12-month clinical trial, 130 healthy adults aged 26 to 58 years (mean age = 41.4 years; 67.7% female) were randomized to (a) a 150 min per week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise group or (b) health-information control group. Intervention effects were examined for: (a) cardiometabolic and vascular risk factors (triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins, glycosylated hemoglobin, pulse-wave velocity); (b) indicators of neuroendocrine and autonomic activity (hair cortisol, heart rate variability); (c) biomarkers of systemic and vascular inflammation (interleukin-6, intercellular adhesion molecule-1); and (d) neural, cardiovascular, and subjective responses to functional magnetic resonance imaging stressor and emotion task paradigms.

resultsThere were 41 and 40 participants in the exercise and control groups, respectively, who completed follow-up assessments. In planned intention-to-treat analyses using generalized linear mixed models, a group-by-time interaction indicated that the exercise group exhibited a decrease from baseline to follow-up relative to the control group in hair cortisol (Between-Group Difference = -0.62; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): -1.14 to -0.10, p

conclusionA 12-month moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise intervention that improved cardiorespiratory fitness also reduced the stress-related biomarker, hair cortisol, but not other indicators of psychological stress and negative emotion processes implicated in CVD risk.

Indexed as

Aerobic exerciseCardiovascular disease riskCross-stressor adaptation hypothesisEmotionStress

Identifiers

PMID41856274
PMCPMC13425812

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Registered trials

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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.