Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Int J Epidemiol. 2018 Oct 1;47(5):1443-1453. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyy141.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is prevalent and costly. Physical activity (PA) may protect against other mental health disorders, including depression, but its protective effect on GAD remains under-studied in the general population and unstudied among older adults. Therefore, the present study examines associations between meeting World Health Organization PA guidelines (i.e. ≥150 min of moderate PA, ≥75 min of vigorous PA or ≥600MET min of moderate and vigorous PA weekly) and the prevalence of probable GAD and incidence of GAD.
Participants (n = 3950; 56.2% female) aged ≥50 years completed the short-form International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire at baseline and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview - Short Form to clinically assess GAD 2 years later. Prospective analyses included participants without probable GAD at baseline (n = 3236).
Prevalence and incidence of GAD were 18.1% (n = 714) and 0.9% (n = 29), respectively. More respondents with GAD were female (72.2% vs 52.7%), aged 50-59 years (51.7% vs 38.7%), had normal waist circumference (52.7% vs 47.8) and smoked (20.4% vs 13.3%; all P <0.05). Meeting PA guidelines was associated with 25% and 63% lower odds of prevalent [odds ratio (OR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval: 0.64 to 0.88] and incident (OR = 0.37, 0.17 to 0.85) GAD, respectively, in crude models, and 17% and 57% lower odds of prevalent (OR = 0.83, 0.70 to 0.98) and incident (OR = 0.43, 0.19 to 0.99) GAD, respectively, following adjustment for age, sex, waist circumference, social class and smoking.
In addition to established physical health benefits of PA, the present findings support the importance of increasing PA at the population-level for mental health.
广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）普遍存在且代价高昂。身体活动（PA）可能对其他心理健康障碍起到预防作用，包括抑郁症，但在普通人群中，PA 对 GAD 的保护作用研究不足，在老年人中则尚未研究。因此，本研究探讨了符合世界卫生组织 PA 指南（即每周至少进行 150 分钟中等强度 PA、75 分钟剧烈强度 PA 或 600 分钟中等和剧烈强度 PA）与 GAD 患病率和 GAD 发生率之间的关联。
年龄≥50 岁的参与者（n=3950；56.2%为女性）在基线时完成了简短的国际体力活动问卷和简化的宾夕法尼亚州担忧问卷，并在 2 年后使用复合国际诊断访谈-简短形式进行临床评估 GAD。前瞻性分析包括基线时无 GAD 的参与者（n=3236）。
GAD 的患病率和发病率分别为 18.1%（n=714）和 0.9%（n=29）。更多患有 GAD 的人是女性（72.2%比 52.7%），年龄在 50-59 岁（51.7%比 38.7%），腰围正常（52.7%比 47.8%）和吸烟（20.4%比 13.3%；所有 P<0.05）。在未经调整的模型中，符合 PA 指南与较低的 GAD 现患（比值比[OR] =0.75，95%置信区间：0.64 至 0.88）和 GAD 新发（OR =0.37，0.17 至 0.85）几率相关，而在调整年龄、性别、腰围、社会阶层和吸烟状况后，与 GAD 现患（OR =0.83，0.70 至 0.98）和 GAD 新发（OR =0.43，0.19 至 0.99）几率相关。
除了 PA 对身体健康的已有益处外，本研究结果还支持在人群中增加 PA 以促进心理健康的重要性。
