Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Exercise and depression

TREAD adds little to the evidence

BMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e4490 (Published 03 July 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e4490
  1. Stephen Pilling, director of National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health1,
  2. Ian Anderson, professor2
  1. 1Research Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology, University College London, London WC1 7HB, UK
  2. 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  1. s.pilling{at}ucl.ac.uk

The TREAD trial claims that physical exercise does not improve mood.1 The trial, however, has serious limitations.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends structured group physical activity to treat subthreshold and mild-moderate depression. TREAD did not evaluate this intervention but aimed to increase physical activity, through the use of physical activity facilitators, to such a level that it improves …

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