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Exercise to treat psychopathology and other clinical outcomes in schizophrenia : A systematic review and meta-analysis
Gallardo-Gómez, Daniel Noetel, Michael Álvarez Barbosa, Francisco Alfonso-Rosa, Rosa M. Munell, Javier Ramos del Pozo Cruz, Borja Del Pozo-Cruz, Jesús
Gallardo-Gómez, Daniel
Noetel, Michael
Álvarez Barbosa, Francisco
Alfonso-Rosa, Rosa M.
Munell, Javier Ramos
del Pozo Cruz, Borja
Del Pozo-Cruz, Jesús
Abstract
Background
Psychopathology and side effects of antipsychotic drugs contribute to worsening physical health and long-term disability, and increasing the risk of mortality in these patients. The efficacy of exercise on these factors is not fully understood, and this lack of knowledge may hamper the routine application of physical activity as part of the clinical care of schizophrenia.
Aims
To determine the effect of exercise on psychopathology and other clinical markers in patients with schizophrenia. We also looked at several moderators.
Method
MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched from inception to October 2022. Randomized controlled trials of exercise interventions in patients 18–65 years old diagnosed with schizophrenia disorder were included. A multilevel random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to pool the data. Heterogeneity at each level of the meta-analysis was estimated via Cochran’s Q, I2, and R2.
Results
Pooled effect estimates from 28 included studies (1,460 patients) showed that exercise is effective to improve schizophrenia psychopathology (Hedges’ g = 0.28, [95% CI 0.14, 0.42]). Exercise presented stronger effects in outpatients than inpatients. We also found exercise is effective to improve muscle strength and self-reported disability.
Conclusions
Our meta-analysis demonstrated that exercise could be an important part in the management and treatment of schizophrenia. Considering the current evidence, aerobic and high-intensity interval training exercises may provide superior benefits over other modalities. However, more studies are warranted to determine the optimal type and dose of exercise to improve clinical outcomes in people with schizophrenia.
Keywords
exercise, meta-analysis, psuchopathology, schizophrenia
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
66
Issue
1
Page Range
1-12
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
Faculty of Health Sciences
Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
File Access
Open
Open
Open
Notes
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.