ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is a large and increasing body of evidence that physical exercise, such as endurance training, exerts antidepressant effects in psychiatric disorders. However, compliance rates are rather low due to reduced energy and lack of motivation. Another important reason may be low baseline fitness leading to overstrain when participating in a training program. The aim of the study was to evaluate the physical fitness of depressive patients compared to healthy controls by a standardized assessment. METHODS: 51 hospitalized depressive patients were investigated by a standardized physical fitness assessment on a bicycle ergometer including measurement of maximum workload (pmax), heart rate, lactate concentration, workload at first lactate elevation (pLT), individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) and workload at IAT (pIAT). They were compared to 51 healthy controls matched for age, sex and body mass index. RESULTS: p(max), p(LT) and p(IAT) were markedly reduced in depressive patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.001). Lactate increase was faster and steeper in depressed patients, albeit differences never reached significant levels. There was a significant negative correlation between the length of disability and poor performance parameters but no significant correlation with other illness variables. LIMITATIONS: The study was not prospective and no study protocol was applied. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a marked reduction of physical fitness in depressive patients which cannot be explained by differences of body mass index or age. When designing therapeutic exercise programs for depressive patients evaluation of baseline training level is recommendable because many patients might overstrain themselves because of strongly reduced baseline fitness.
Subject(s)
Depressive Disorder/psychology , Depressive Disorder/therapy , Disability Evaluation , Exercise Test , Physical Fitness , Psychomotor Performance , Adult , Anaerobic Threshold , Body Mass Index , Case-Control Studies , Depressive Disorder/blood , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Exercise Test/methods , Female , Heart Rate , Humans , Inpatients , Lactic Acid/blood , Male , Middle Aged , Severity of Illness Index , Time Factors , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
The heart rate performance, cardiac output and catecholamine excretion were observed at rest in the ergometer test (40 min at 50 watts) in a group of 8 pregnant women whose case history and clinical record did not reveal any abnormal findings, during the course of pregnancy (20th, 28th and 36th weeks of pregnancy) as well as 2 and 12 weeks post partum. It was found that the cardiac output increased, dependent upon the heart rate, the stroke volume remaining approximately constant (max. + 60%) during pregnancy, compared with the controls post partum. There is a close linear correlation (r = 0.983) between the measured heart rates and the corresponding excretion of epinephrine (adrenalin) with the urine at rest and under load. It may be assumed that there is a causative link between the increase in secretion of catecholamine by the mother and the well-known change in cardiac output during pregnancy.
