Background:
Physical activity has shown efficacy in depression and anxiety, but its benefits in bipolar disorder have not been investigated, despite its potential relevance in this disorder, given its high cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities and the encouraged maintenance of social rhythms in its management. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of an adjunc-tive walking program in the acute treatment of bipolar disorder.
Methods:
The sample consisted of a retrospective cohort of in-patients at a private psychiatric hospital with a primary diagnosis of bipolar disorder, who were admitted from January 2004 to December 2005. All patients were invited to participate in a 40-min walking group that took place on weekdays. Those who reliably attended the walking group (participants) were compared against those who never attended (nonpar-ticipants), using the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scales and the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS).
Results:
The participants (n = 24) and nonparticipants (n = 74) were comparable in age, length of stay, bipolar subtype distribution, and baseline CGI and DASS measures, except for a lower DASS stress subscore for the participants (19.4 vs. 25.3, P = 0.049). The groups did not differ in their discharge CGI scores, but participants showed significantly lower scores on DASS (23 vs. 44.6, P = 0.005) and all its subscales (depression 7.2 vs. 13.7, P = 0.048; anxiety 6.6 vs. 13.8, P = 0.002; stress 9.2 vs. 17.1, P = 0.01) at the time of discharge.
Conclusions:
Physical activity may have an adjunctive therapeutic role in bipolar disorder. Further investigation with randomized controlled trials is warranted.
