Association of regular exercise with metabolic and psychiatric outcomes in schizophrenia: a 6-month study in a community mental health center
CRITICAL PUBLIC HEALTH, cilt.36, sa.1, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 36 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1080/09581596.2026.2676424
- Dergi Adı: CRITICAL PUBLIC HEALTH
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, CINAHL, Educational research abstracts (ERA), EMBASE, Political Science Complete, Psycinfo, Public Affairs Index, Directory of Open Access Journals, Political Science Abstract (IPSA), Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Natural Science Collection (ProQuest), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO)
- Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
BackgroundSchizophrenia is associated with elevated cardiometabolic risk. Exercise may support metabolic and psychiatric health, but community-based evidence remains limited.AimTo examine whether regular exercise was associated with 6-month changes in metabolic risk factors and psychiatric symptoms in adults with schizophrenia attending a Community Mental Health Center.MethodThis exploratory observational cohort included 60 adults in remission on stable antipsychotic treatment (30 exercisers, 30 controls). Allocation was non-random and based on patient preference and clinician referral. Exercisers completed supervised treadmill or elliptical sessions (>= 40 min/day) for 6 months. The primary outcome was waist circumference. Secondary outcomes included BMI, fasting glucose, lipids, metabolic syndrome status, and PANSS scores.ResultsExercisers were younger and more likely to smoke at baseline. Exercise participation was associated with a more favorable change in waist circumference (DiD -3.47 cm). Secondary outcomes showed favorable changes in BMI, LDL-C, total cholesterol, fasting glucose, and PANSS scores; however, HDL-C changed minimally and triglycerides increased in both groups.ConclusionExercise participation was associated with favorable changes in selected metabolic and psychiatric outcomes. Findings should be interpreted cautiously because of non-random allocation, clinically relevant baseline imbalances, and limited sample size.