Recreational exercise is associated with lower prevalence of depression and anxiety and better quality of life in German people living with HIV

ABSTRACT

Sedentarism is a risk factor for depression and anxiety. People living with the human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) have a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression compared to HIV-negative individuals. This cross-sectional study (n = 450, median age 44 (19–75), 7.3% females) evaluates the prevalence rates and prevalence ratio (PR) of anxiety and/or depression in PLWH associated with recreational exercise. A decreased likelihood of having anxiety (PR=0.57; 0.36-0.91; p = 0.01), depression (PR=0.41; 0.36-0.94; p=0.01), and comorbid anxiety and depression (PR = 0,43; 0.24-0.75; p=0.002) was found in exercising compared to non-exercising PLWH. Recreational exercise is associated with a lower risk for anxiety and/or depression. Further prospective studies are needed to provide insights on the direction of this association.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• depression
• anxiety
• exercise

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors contribution

Conceptualization: Camilo Pérez-Chaparro and Philipp Zech; Methodology: Camilo Pérez-Chaparro and Philipp Zech; Formal analysis and investigation: Camilo Pérez-Chaparro; Writing – original draft preparation: Camilo Pérez-Chaparro; Writing – review and editing: Maria Kangas, Philipp Zech, Felipe B. Schuch, Michael Rapp, Andreas Heissel, Supervision: Andreas Heissel.

Data availabity statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

Camilo Pérez-Chaparro was funded by the Fundación para el futuro de Colombia and Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst. Andreas Heissel was funded by the University of Potsdam. Philipp Zech was funded by the FAZIT Stiftung. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.