Review: Exercise to manage post-natal depression
The National Institutes of Health and Clinical Excellence in England recommend that health professionals consider exercise to treat post-natal depression (aka postpartum depression).
Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK reviewed the evidence.
First, the details.
- A literature search revealed 5 studies that compared any type of exercise to other treatments or no treatment in women with post-natal depression.
- The Delphi criteria were used to assess the quality of included studies.
- The components of the Delphi criteria are listed here (click Table 1).
- The data were combined for meta-analysis.
- The main outcome was post-natal depression.
And, the results.
- Compared to no exercise, exercise reduced symptoms of post-natal depression.
- However, there were big differences between the studies (heterogeneity), which weakened the findings.
- In fact, when 1 study that combined social support + exercise was removed from the meta-analysis, no benefit from exercise was found.
The bottom line?
It’s not known whether exercise reduces symptoms of post-natal depression.
Support for the authors’ conclusions can be found here and here.
3/13/09 23:16 JR