title: [Physical Exercise and Depression in the Elderly : A Systematic Review].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The literature supports the benefits of exercise in people with depressive disorders, but there is controversy over these benefits in depressed elderly.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effect of different types of exercise on depression in older adults using a systematic review of clinical trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Cochrane Library; PubMed-MEDLINE (1966-dic 2010); EMBASE (1980-dic 2010); LILACS (1986-dic 2010); SCIELO (1998-dic 2010); Register of Controlled Trials; manual search in other sources.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical trials with people >60 years with diagnosis of depression were included, without restriction by year of publication, language and sex, with exercise intervention structures, controlled with usual care (medication, psychotherapy, electric shock therapy), placebo or non-intervention. Three independent reviewers conducted the search, applied inclusion and exclusion criteria, assessed methodological quality and extracted data; discrepancies were resolved by consensus. The primary outcome was the score for depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 11 studies (n=7195) were identified. In general, exercise produces an improvement in depression in older adults with more evidence in the short-term (3 months) and strength training at high intensity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exercise is beneficial for older persons with depression, but studies that support this are of low methodological quality and heterogeneous, which makes it necessary to develop clinical trials to clarify the magnitude of the effect and the levels at which it is beneficial.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto de Educación Física, Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte GRICAFDE, Colombia. Electronic address: fredpa18@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Fredy Alonso
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Patiño Villada
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto de Educación Física, Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte GRICAFDE, Colombia.
authors.forename: Elkin Fernando
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Arango Vélez
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto de Educación Física, Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte GRICAFDE, Colombia.
authors.forename: Lucidia Zuleta
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Baena
keywords: Actividad física; Adulto mayor; Depresión; Depression; Ejercicio; Elderly; Exercise; Physical activity