Depression symptoms associated with physical activity: crude OR and heterogeneity
| Contrast | K (N) | OR | 95% CI | Q | I2 (95% CI) | |
| Region | ||||||
| North America | 41 (20) | 0.72**** | 0.64 to 0.82 | 469.1**** | 91.7 (90.7 to 92.6) | |
| Europe | 30 (18) | 0.64**** | 0.52 to 0.79 | 301.5**** | 90.7 (89.4 to 91.9) | |
| Asia | 22 (9) | 0.71**** | 0.63 to 0.78 | 446.4**** | 75.4 (70.5 to 79.5) | |
| Australia | 11 (4) | 0.64**** | 0.57 to 0.71 | 13.5 | 63.7 (50.5 to 73.4) | |
| Gender | ||||||
| Females only | 1 | 29 (8) | 0.73*** | 0.62 to 0.86 | 385.8**** | 93.0 (92.1 to 93.8) |
| Males only | −1 | 13 (6) | 0.72** | 0.58 to 0.91 | 23.4* | 53.0 (34.8 to 66.1) |
| Mixed (55% female, 8%–94%, IQR=49%–59%) | 0 | 62 (37) | 0.67**** | 0.60 to 0.76 | 931.0**** | 93.6 (93.0 to 94.1) |
| Age (years) | ||||||
| 18–44 | 1 | 38 (15) | 0.74**** | 0.67 to 0.82 | 162.3**** | 77.8 (74.1 to 81.0) |
| 45–64 | 2 | 38 (18) | 0.66*** | 0.53 to 0.81 | 791.8**** | 95.5 (95.0 to 95.9) |
| 65+ | 3 | 28 (18) | 0.68**** | 0.60 to 0.77 | 282.1**** | 90.8 (89.4 to 92.0) |
| Study quality | ||||||
| Low | 1 | 26 (17) | 0.71**** | 0.58 to 0.88 | 432.4**** | 94.5 (93.7 to 95.1) |
| Acceptable | 2 | 41 (22) | 0.64**** | 0.56 to 0.73 | 996.1**** | 96.1 (95.7 to 96.4) |
| Good | 3 | 37 (12) | 0.73**** | 0.67 to 0.80 | 125.4**** | 72.1 (67.1.76.4) |
| Study design | ||||||
| Baseline exposure and incident cases | −0.5 | 73 (31) | 0.70**** | 0.64 to 0.74 | 1170.9**** | 93.4 (93.5 to 94.4) |
| Baseline exposure and change in symptoms | −0.5 | 9 (8) | 0.84** | 0.76 to 0.92 | 27.5*** | 74.6 (63.8 to 82.1) |
| Change in exposure and incident cases | 0.5 | 10 (6) | 0.73**** | 067 to 0.80 | 4.0 | 0.0 (0.0 to 0.0) |
| Change in exposure and change in symptoms | 0.5 | 12 (9) | 0.56*** | 0.37 to 0.84 | 381.8**** | 87.1 (85.0 to 88.8) |
| PA measure | ||||||
| Frequency | −0.5 | 42 (21) | 0.65**** | 0.57 to 0.75 | 623.5**** | 93.6 (92.9 to 94.2) |
| Time or distance | −0.5 | 10 (8) | 0.73** | 0.59 to 0.90 | 41.0**** | 76.1 (70.4 to 80.8) |
| Meeting guidelines (sufficient) | 0.5 | 18 (5) | 0.80**** | 0.73 to 0.87 | 106.4**** | 85.0 (81.5 to 87.8) |
| Metabolic equivalent | 0.5 | 34 (19) | 0.70*** | 0.59 to 0.83 | 473.2**** | 93.2 (92.4 to 94.0) |
| PA domain | ||||||
| Leisure time | −0.5 | 89 (40) | 0.70**** | 0.63 to 0.78 | 1531.2**** | 94.3 (93.9 to 94.7) |
| Total | 0.5 | 15 (11) | 0.65** | 0.59 to 0.73 | 24.2**** | 46.3 (26.7 to 60.7) |
| Depression measure | ||||||
| Symptoms | −1 | 21 (14) | 0.65*** | 0.51 to 0.84 | 333.9**** | 94.3 (93.4 to 95.1) |
| Screening cut-point | 0.33 | 53 (25) | 0.70**** | 0.63 to 0.77 | 495.9**** | 89.7 (88.6 to 90.7) |
| Self-reported diagnosis | 0.33 | 8 (4) | 0.81**** | 0.77 to 0.86 | 58.5**** | 89.7 (86.2 to 92.4) |
| Clinical diagnosis | 0.33 | 22 (8) | 0.72*** | 0.62 to 0.84 | 394.1**** | 94.9 (94.2 to 95.6) |
| Exposure dose | ||||||
| Binary or correlation | 0 | 48 (35) | 0.68**** | 0.60 to 0.77 | 710.0**** | 93.5 (92.8 to 94.1) |
| Low | −1 | 20 (16) | 0.78**** | 0.70 to 0.87 | 61.3**** | 71.6 (64.2 to 77.4) |
| Moderate | 0.5 | 17 (15) | 0.69**** | 0.60 to 0.79 | 56.6**** | 73.5 (66.1 to 79.3) |
| High | 0.5 | 19 (7) | 0.69*** | 0.59 to 0.81 | 404.7**** | 95.8 (95.2 to 96.3) |
| Recommended exposure | ||||||
| Not meeting guidelines | −1 | 15 (9) | 0.68** | 0.52 to 0.90 | 100.0*** | 87.0 (83.8 to 89.6) |
| Not reported | 0 | 52 (34) | 0.67**** | 0.59 to 0.76 | 1028.9**** | 95.1 (94.7 to 95.5) |
| Meeting guidelines | 1 | 37 (18) | 0.76**** | 0.69 to 0.83 | 464.1**** | 92.5 (91.6 to 93.3) |
K is number of effects and N is number of studies for each category or level of each modifier.
Significant at *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ****p<0.001, ****p<0.0001.
IQR, interquartile range; PA, physical activity.