title: Physical activity and energy expenditure during depressive episodes of major depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent data suggest a substantial association between physical activity and depressive symptoms, but there is a lack of research evaluating the physical activity levels in patients suffering from unipolar depression across different stages of disease in an objective way. The aim of the present pilot study was to objectively examine physical activity levels of this patient group compared to healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Physical activity performance of 19 patients with major depressive episode and 19 healthy controls was assessed at three different time points using a multisensory armband device (SenseWear® Pro3 Armband) and was reported as total energy expenditure (TEE), active energy expenditure (EE), metabolic equivalents (METs), physical activity (PA) and time of lying down (LD), in each case over 24h.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over all measurements, depressive patients presented a significantly lower mean TEE and EE over 24h. Moreover, the patient group showed significantly shorter duration of PA and lower average MET over 24h. When depressive symptoms abated, physical activity parameters significantly increased in the patient group. Correlation analyses demonstrated a significant relation between depressive status/anhedonia and parameters of physical activity, especially in healthy subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results represented valid data for inpatients only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute unipolar depression was associated with a significantly lower level of physical activity and showed a significant increase in parallel to clinical improvement. Electronic monitoring of physical activity may be an additional tool for evaluating and controlling therapeutic effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wielopolski
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clepce
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sperling
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Electronic address: norbert.thuerauf@uk-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Thuerauf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D010865:Pilot Projects
keywords: Energy expenditure; Physical activity; Sensewear® armband; Unipolar depression