ReviewFrontiers in psychology2026
Can exercise truly alleviate mild-to-moderate and subthreshold depression? Evidence from randomized controlled trials.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: This study centers on populations with mild-to-moderate and subthreshold depression, excluding pharmacological interference, to systematically evaluate the comparative efficacy of various exercise modalities. Methods: Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases up to January 25, 2026. Inclusion criteria encompassed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) implementing structured exercise interventions for mild-to-moderate and subthreshold depression. A random-effects model was utilized to calculate the pooled effect size (Hedges' Results: A total of 37 RCTs (3,110 unique participants) were included, contributing 3,922 observations across multiple comparisons. The analysis revealed that exercise interventions significantly ameliorated symptoms of non-severe depression compared to control groups, yielding a large pooled effect size (Hedges' Conclusion: Physical exercise serves as an effective intervention for ameliorating non-severe depression. Among exercise modalities, aerobic exercise demonstrated the most substantial symptom alleviation effects, while mind-body exercises exhibited optimal therapeutic stability. However, the overall certainty of evidence is rated as 'Low' (GRADE), and the presence of potential publication bias necessitates a cautious interpretation of the exact effect size magnitude. Clinicians are encouraged to integrate structured exercise as a valuable adjunctive strategy for non-severe depression management.
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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.