Effectiveness of Physical Activity in Primary Prevention of Anxiety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Patricia Moreno-Peral, Alberto Pino-Postigo, Sonia Conejo-Cerón, Darío Bellón, Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín, Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno and Juan Ángel Bellón
Additional contact information
Patricia Moreno-Peral: Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga (IBIMA), 29010 Málaga, Spain
Alberto Pino-Postigo: Faculty of Medicine, University of Málaga (UMA), 29010 Málaga, Spain
Sonia Conejo-Cerón: Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga (IBIMA), 29010 Málaga, Spain
Darío Bellón: PROFITH “PROmoting FITness and Health Through Physical Activity” Research Group, Department of Physical and Sports Education, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín: Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network (redIAPP), 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno: Social and Health Care Research Center, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16002 Cuenca, Spain
Juan Ángel Bellón: Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga (IBIMA), 29010 Málaga, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of physical activity in the primary prevention of anxiety. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed. RCTs were searched in seven electronic databases. We included RCTs that assessed either the incidence of anxiety or the reduction of anxiety symptoms which excluded participants with baseline anxiety. Measurements were required to have been made using validated instruments. Objective or subjective (with validated questionnaires) verification of the performance of physical activity was required. Three reviewers carried out the search, selection, data extraction, and risk assessment of Cochrane Collaboration’s tool simultaneously and independently, reaching an agreement in their discrepancies by consensus. In addition, a meta-analysis of fixed-effects model was carried out. Three RCTs met inclusion criteria, comprising 350 patients from 3 different countries. A meta-analysis was performed using five comparisons extracted from the selected studies, and the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) was −0.18 (95% CI: −0.44; 0.07), p = 0.158. The heterogeneity was irrelevant, I 2 = 17.7% ( p = 0.30). There is no evidence that anxiety can be prevented through physical activity, although the quality of evidence was very low.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; exercise; primary prevention; systematic review; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1813/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1813/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1813-:d:742666

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().