Aerobic endurance training to improve cognition and enhance recovery in schizophrenia: design and methodology of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Aerobic endurance training to improve cognition and enhance recovery in schizophrenia: design and methodology of a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2020 Aug 03;: Authors: Maurus I, Hasan A, Schmitt A, Roeh A, Keeser D, Malchow B, Schneider-Axmann T, Hellmich M, Schmied S, Lembeck M, Keller-Varady K, Papazova I, Hirjak D, Topor CE, Walter H, Mohnke S, Vogel BO, Wölwer W, Schneider F, Henkel K, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Falkai P Abstract Even today, patients with schizophrenia often have an unfavorable outcome. Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits are common features in many patients and prevent recovery. In recent years, aerobic endurance training has emerged as a therapeutic approach with positive effects on several domains of patients' health. However, appropriately sized, multicenter randomized controlled trials that would allow better generalization of results are lacking. The exercise study presented here is a multicenter, rater-blind, two-armed, parallel-group randomized clinical trial in patients with clinically stable schizophrenia being conducted at five German tertiary hospitals. The intervention group performs aerobic endurance training on bicycle ergometers three times per week for 40-50 min/session (depending on the intervention week) for a total of 26 weeks, and the control group performs balance and tone training for the same amount of time. Participants are subsequently follo...
Source: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Source Type: research