Adherence to lifestyle recommendations by patients with depression

Abstract

Introduction: There is an increasing amount of evidence showing that physical activity and sun exposure are effective coadjuvant treatments for patients with mild to moderate depression. However, there is a lack of information regarding patient's adherence to these recommendations in daily clinical practice.

Methods: We conducted a study including 15 depressive patients who had been under antidepressant treatment for at least one month. They wore a wrist-watch-like actimetry sensor to measure physical activity and sun exposure 24 hours a day. After one week of baseline assessment, patients were randomised into one of the two arms of the study. Patients in the experimental group received a brief note in which they were explicitly asked to increase both their physical activity level and time of sun exposure, while control group patients did not receive these explicit recommendations.

Results: One week after recommendations were delivered, only patients in the experimental group had increased time of sun exposure and physical activity (25.8% and 14.3%, respectively).

Conclusions: Depressive patients are able to follow prescribed lifestyle recommendations in the short-term.