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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Nov 11;18(1):363.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-020-01609-4.

The effect of exercise on anxiety in the elderly worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mohsen Kazeminia  1 , Nader Salari  2 , Aliakbar Vaisi-Raygani  3 , Rostam Jalali  3 , Alireza Abdi  3 , Masoud Mohammadi  4 , Alireza Daneshkhah  5 , Melika Hosseinian-Far  6 , Shamarina Shohaimi  7
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The effect of exercise on anxiety in the elderly worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mohsen Kazeminia et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Physical activity and exercise are among the most important, simplest, and cheapest approaches to anxiety treatment, especially for the elderly. Their positive effects on improvement of mental disorders in the elderly have attracted a considerable level of attention. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of sport on reducing anxiety in the elderly using meta-analysis.

Methods: In this study, national and international databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Cochrane, Embase, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched to find studies published electronically from 1999 to 2019. Heterogeneity between the collected studies was determined using the Cochran's test (Q) and I2. Due to presence of heterogeneity, the random effects model was used to estimate the standardized mean difference of sport test scores obtained from the measurement of anxiety reduction among the elderly, between the intervention group before and after the test.

Results: In this meta-analysis and systematic review, 19 papers finally met the inclusion criteria. The overall sample size of all collected studies for the meta-analysis was 841 s. Mean anxiety score before and after intervention were 38.7 ± 5.6 33.7 ± 3.4 respectively, denoting a decrease in anxiety score after intervention.

Conclusion: Results of this study indicates that Sport significantly reduces Anxiety in the Elderly. Therefore, a regular exercise program can be considered as a part of the elderly care program.

Keywords: Anxiety; Elderly; Meta-analysis; Sport.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of study selection
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Accumulation diagram of studies included in meta-analysis using standardized mean difference index before intervention
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Funnel plot plotted according to the studies included in meta-analysis using standardized mean difference index before intervention
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Accumulation diagram of studies included in meta-analysis using standardized mean difference index after intervention
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Funnel plot plotted according to the studies included in meta-analysis using standardized mean difference index after intervention
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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