Depression treatment rankings varied across scales when combined with aerobic exercise
A network meta-analysis compared treatment combinations, but the abstract reports rankings without the estimates needed to assess the size and certainty of differences.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The review ranked several depression treatments combined with aerobic exercise, with the leading combination changing according to the symptom scale used. The authors favored an antidepressant-plus-exercise approach. However, rankings alone do not show how much symptoms improved or whether differences between particular combinations were statistically reliable or meaningful to patients.
This abstract-based account lacks comparative effect sizes, confidence intervals, follow-up periods and detailed evidence ratings for individual comparisons. Those omissions limit assessment of the authors' conclusion that combined approaches outperform single treatments.
Different scales produced different leaders
Electroconvulsive therapy plus exercise led the Hamilton scale ranking. A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor plus exercise ranked highest on the Beck inventory, while traditional Chinese medicine plus exercise led the self-rating depression scale.
How the authors interpreted it
The authors favored combining a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor with aerobic exercise, citing their assessment of trial evidence. They also called for larger, higher-quality trials to validate the other exercise combinations.
The original publication
Effectiveness of different therapeutic measures combined with aerobic exercise as an intervention in patients with depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Chen L, Li A, Zhou J et al.
Front Psychiatry · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40787687
- Record checked
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