Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 297, 15 January 2022, Pages 26-34
Journal of Affective Disorders

Original article
Effects of exercise on symptoms of anxiety in primary care patients: A randomized controlled trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.006Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • A randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of different exercise intensities in the treatment of anxiety syndromes in primary health care.

  • Results support an exercise intensity trend for reduced anxiety symptoms, but effect sizes were rather similar in low and higher intensities.

  • These effects were independent of depressive symptoms.

  • Structured physical activity represents an effective treatment and should be more frequently made available for persons with anxiety issues within primary health care.

Abstract

Background

There is a need for high-quality research regarding exercise interventions for persons with anxiety disorders. We investigate whether a 12-week exercise intervention, with different intensities, could reduce anxiety symptoms in patients with anxiety disorders.

Methods

286 patients were recruited from primary care in Sweden. Severity of symptoms was self-assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-S). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two group exercise programs with cardiorespiratory and resistance training and one control/standard treatment non-exercise group, with 1:1:1 allocation.

Results

Patients in both exercise groups showed larger improvements in both anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to the control group. No differences in effect sizes were found between the two groups. To study a clinically relevant improvement, BAI and MADRS-S were dichotomized with the mean change in the control group as reference. In adjusted models the odds ratio for improved symptoms of anxiety after low-intensity training was 3.62 (CI 1.34–9.76) and after moderate/high intensity 4.88 (CI 1.66–14.39), for depressive symptoms 4.96 (CI 1.81–13.6) and 4.36 (CI 1.57–12.08) respectively. There was a significant intensity trend for improvement in anxiety symptoms.

Limitations

The use of self-rating measures which bears the risk of an under- or overestimation of symptoms.

Conclusions

A 12-week group exercise program proved effective for patients with anxiety syndromes in primary care. These findings strengthen the view of physical exercise as an effective treatment and could be more frequently made available in clinical practice for persons with anxiety issues.

Keywords

Anxiety disorders
Exercise
Intervention studies
Primary health care
Dose-response
Randomized Controlled Trial

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