Characteristics of the included studies
| Study | Mean age (SD) | Gender (M/F) | Baseline score (SD) | Depression scale | Intervention | Duration (weeks) |
| Bjerkenstedt, 2005* | 50 (12) | 23M 86F | 24.5 (4) | HAM-D | Fluoxetine Placebo | 4 |
| Blumenthal et al. 1999† ‡ § | 57 (7) | 43M 113F | 17.9 (7.2) | HAM-D | Exercise Sertraline Aerobic exercise + sertraline | 16 |
| Blumenthal et al. 2007* ¶ † | 52 (8) | 35M 114F | 17 (4) | HAM-D | Exercise Sertraline Placebo | 16 |
| Danielsson, 2014‡ | 46 (14) | 10M 32F | 24 (4.6) | MADRS | Exercise + antidepressants Antidepressants + advice | 10 |
| Detke, 2002* | 41 (14) | 83M 184F | 20.4 (3.4) | HAM-D | Duloxetine Placebo | 9 |
| Detke, 2004* | 45 (12) | 47M 139F | 20.1 (3.5) | HAM-D | Duloxetine Placebo | 8 |
| Dunn, 2005¶ | 34 (7) | 9M 21F | 19.8 (2.1) | HAM-D | Exercise Stretching | 12 |
| Fava, 2005* | 37 (11) | 37M 53F | 19.7 (3.2) | HAM-D | Fluoxetine Placebo | 12 |
| Gastpar, 2006* | 49 (12) | 80M 177F | 21.9 (1.2) | HAM-D | Citalopram Placebo | 6 |
| Goldstein, 2004* | 41 (13) | 67M 113F | 17.6 (4.9) | HAM-D | Duloxetine Placebo | 8 |
| Hemat-Far, 2012¶ | 18–25 | 20F | 24.4 (5) | BDI | Exercise No-treatment | 8 |
| Hidalgo et al. 2021† | > 65 | 67M 246F | 15.5 (4.3) | MADRS | Exercise Antidepressants | 24 |
| Krogh, 2012¶ | 42 (11) | 38M 77F | 18.9 (4.4) | HAM-D | Exercise Stretching | 12 |
| Mao, 2015* | 44 (15) | 19M 18F | 15 (3) | HAM-D | Sertraline Placebo | 12 |
| Mather, 2002‡ | 65 (NA) | 27M 59F | 17.2 (6.5) | HAM-D | Exercise + antidepressants Antidepressants + attention control | 10 |
| McNeil, 1991¶ | NA | 20 M/F | 15.9 (2.8) | BDI | Exercise Wait-list | 6 |
| Moreno, 2006* | 41 (11) | 8M 38F | 16.1 (4.8) | HAM-D | Fluoxetine Placebo | 8 |
| Perahia, 2006* | 45 (11) | 60 142F | 21 (4.1) | HAM-D | Duloxetine Placebo | 8 |
| Philipp, 1999* | 46 (12) | 40M 117F | 22.5 (4.1) | HAM-D | Imipramine Placebo | 8 |
| Sadeghi, 2016¶ | 21 (1) | 24M 6F | 22.9 (4.2) | BDI-II | Exercise Attention control | 8 |
| Siqueira, 2016‡ | 39 (11) | 16M 41F | 19.8 (3.1) | HAM-D | Exercise + sertraline Sertraline | 4 |
*Included in the antidepressants versus control pairwise comparison.
†Included in the exercise versus antidepressants comparison.
‡Included in the exercise plus antidepressants versus antidepressants comparison.
§Included in the exercise plus antidepressants versus exercise comparison.
¶Included in the exercise versus control pairwise comparison.
BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; HAM-D, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; MADRS, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale; NA, not applicable.