Meta-Analysis of Exercise Effects on Non-Severe Depression from 37 RCTs

Duanying Li's 2026 meta-analysis PDF summarizes evidence from 37 randomized controlled trials with 3,110 unique participants. The study evaluates the efficacy of different exercise modalities for mild-to-moderate and subthreshold depression, reporting pooled effect sizes and subgroup analyses. It was published on figshare under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Compare the efficacy of aerobic vs. mind-body exercises for depression based on reported Hedges' g values.
• Assess heterogeneity and publication bias in exercise intervention studies based on the reported I² statistic and Egger's test results.
• Inform clinical guideline development for non-severe depression management based on the synthesized trial evidence.
• Identify research gaps in exercise therapy for subthreshold depression based on the reviewed literature scope.

Strengths

• Systematic review adhering to PRISMA guidelines, suggesting a structured methodology.
• Analysis includes 37 randomized controlled trials with 3,110 unique participants.
• Provides specific effect size metrics (Hedges' g) for different exercise types.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 56.1 KB PDF summary; the underlying trial data is not directly accessible.
• The overall certainty of evidence is rated as 'Low' (GRADE) per the conclusion.
• Potential publication bias was indicated by Egger's test (p < 0.05).

Provenance

Source

Duanying Li via figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO.

Time Range

Literature search up to January 25, 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:47:47.

Geography

Global (studies from international databases).