Aerobic Exercise as add-on Treatment for Inpatients With Depression

Depression Clinical Trial

Official title: Aerobic Exercise as add-on Treatment for Inpatients With Depression: Effects and Biomarkers

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of 6 weeks of aerobic endurance exercise as adon treatment for moderately to severely depressed inpatients. Endpoints are symptom severity, psychological variables, cognitive symptoms, sleep, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis), Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and heartrate variability (HRV).

Amendment 1 (Nov. 2016): additional evaluation of TNF-alpha at baseline, +2 weeks and post (+6weeks) in already existing blood samples.

Clinical Trial Description

Patients are randomly assigned to the intervention group (IG) or control group (CG). The IG will train three times per week on indoor bicycles at 60 to 75% of maximal heartrate aiming at a weekly total of 17.5kcal/kg bodyweight for 6 consecutive weeks. The exercise will take place under supervision. CG will absolve a basic stretching and mobilisation program 3 times per week, also under supervision for 6 consecutive weeks. At the end of every week physical fitness is evaluated by the queens step test. No other activities with moderate or high intensity are allowed throughout the intervention time.

All patients will participate in the multimodal treatment program of the depression ward, which includes pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy and specialized therapies such as art therapy and ergotherapy. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Depression
• Depressive Disorder

• NCT number: NCT02679053
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 2013
• Completion date: March 2017