Long-term Tai Chi training is related to depressive symptoms among Tai Chi practitioners.
Author: Li Y1, Su Q2, Guo H2, Wu H2, Du H2, Yang G3, Meng G4, Li C5, Nagatomi R6, Niu K7.
Affiliation:
1Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjin, China. 2Nutritional Epidemiology Institute and School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, China. 3College of Sports Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China. 4Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China. 5Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China. 6Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health & Welfare, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Sendai, Japan. 7Nutritional Epidemiology Institute and School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300070, China. Electronic address: nkj0809@163.com.
Conference/Journal: J Affect Disord.
Date published: 2014 Jul 31
Other:
Pages: 169C:36-39 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.07.029 , Word Count: 247
BACKGROUND:
Due to the close association with physical and psychological health and quality of life, mood disorders, especially depressive symptoms, are an important global public-health issue. It is hypothesized that long-term physical training and mood adjustment may have a beneficial effect on the prevention of the onset of depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between long-term Tai Chi training and depressive symptoms among Tai Chi practitioners.
METHODS:
This study analyzed a cross-sectional survey including 529 Japanese Tai Chi practitioners. Tai Chi training information, including total training time and a Tai Chi grade, was assessed using a structured questionnaire, and depressive symptoms were evaluated using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) for subjects aged ≥65 and the 20-item Self-rating Depressive Scale (SDS) for subjects aged <65 with cut-off points: GDS ≥5 and SDS ≥11.
RESULTS:
The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 15.9%. After adjustments for potential confounding factors, the odds ratios of having depressive symptoms by increasing levels of Tai Chi training time were 1.00, 0.64 (0.37-1.11), 0.65 (0.37-1.13), 0.34 (0.18-0.65) (P for trend <0.01).
LIMITATIONS:
This is a cross-sectional study, and not for making a clinical diagnosis of depressive symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study has demonstrated that long-term Tai Chi training is independently related to a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. These results suggest that long-term Tai Chi training may have a beneficial effect on the prevention of depressive symptoms. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Depressive symptoms; Tai Chi
PMID: 25129533
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