Depression complicates many chronic diseases, making them more difficult to manage and resulting in worse outcomes. But being sick can also make people depressed. A new study from Duke University Medical Center has just found that exercise can help alleviate depression even in people with chronic heart failure.
The researchers enrolled 2,300 heart failure patients in the U.S., Canada and France. Levels of depression were measured with standard questionnaires such as the Beck Depression Inventory, and subjects were randomized to receive supervised aerobic exercise or education and usual care.
At the end of the study year, those who had exercised had lower scores on the depression scales than those who had not. Those who had done the best job sticking to the plan got the best results. Patients with the highest depression scale scores were 20 percent more likely to be hospitalized or to die during the year, so even though the effect of exercise on depression was modest, it is important.
