title: Aerobic exercise and yoga improve neurocognitive function in women with early psychosis.
abstract: Impairments of attention and memory are evident in early psychosis, and are associated with functional disability. In a group of stable, medicated women patients, we aimed to determine whether participating in aerobic exercise or yoga improved cognitive impairments and clinical symptoms. A total of 140 female patients were recruited, and 124 received the allocated intervention in a randomized controlled study of 12 weeks of yoga or aerobic exercise compared with a waitlist group. The primary outcomes were cognitive functions including memory and attention. Secondary outcome measures were the severity of psychotic and depressive symptoms, and hippocampal volume. Data from 124 patients were included in the final analysis based on the intention-to-treat principle. Both yoga and aerobic exercise groups demonstrated significant improvements in working memory (P<0.01) with moderate to large effect sizes compared with the waitlist control group. The yoga group showed additional benefits in verbal acquisition (P<0.01) and attention (P=0.01). Both types of exercise improved overall and depressive symptoms (all P⩽0.01) after 12 weeks. Small increases in hippocampal volume were observed in the aerobic exercise group compared with waitlist (P=0.01). Both types of exercise improved working memory in early psychosis patients, with yoga having a larger effect on verbal acquisition and attention than aerobic exercise. The application of yoga and aerobic exercise as adjunctive treatments for early psychosis merits serious consideration. This study was supported by the Small Research Funding of the University of Hong Kong (201007176229), and RGC funding (C00240/762412) by the Authority of Research, Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Jingxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Sherry Kw
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Edwin Hm
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Wing Chung
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Performance, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Wayne Weizhong
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Pak
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sham
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Christy Lm
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Performance, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Glen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Cecilia Lw
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Khong
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Kwok Fai
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: So
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Honer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Eric Yh
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen