Effect of Aerobic, Resistance, and Combined Exercise Training on Depressive Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Muscle Strength in Healthy Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background Aerobic training, resistance training, or combined training are interventions that can be modified to suit the needs of aged people. Objective This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the impact of exercise training on depression symptoms, quality of life, and muscle strength in healthy people aged 60 or more. Data Sources Searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases from inception to February 2022. Results Eighteen studies, totaling 1354 participants, were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, exercise training significantly declined depressive symptoms (standard mean difference (SMD): −.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): −.76 to −.28; p < .001). Moreover, there was a significant reduction in bodily pain (p < .05) and body mass (p < .01), and a significant increase in mental health (p < .001), physical functioning (p < .01), and general health (p < .001) subscales of quality of life as well as upper- (p < .001) and lower-limb strength (p < .001). Subgroup analysis revealed that depression decreased significantly when aerobic training (p = .000) and resistance training (p = .003) were applied, and for studies including both genders (p = .000) or men subjects (p = .002). Moreover, subgroup analysis demonstrated that depression reduced following both medium- (p = .006) and long-term (p = .002) interventions. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that exercise interventions may produce improvements in depressive symptoms, some components of quality of life, muscle strength, and body mass. Additional research is required to define the optimal dose of exercise training interventions.