Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Depression, Anxiety, and Quality of Life in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis designed to systematically search, screen, and synthesize existing randomized controlled trials or controlled intervention studies evaluating the effects of aerobic exercise on depression, anxiety, and quality of life in older adults. The target population is older adults, and the interventions include walking, aerobic gymnastics, dance, stepping exercise, cycling, or other forms of continuous low-to-moderate or moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. The main outcomes include depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and quality of life. When appropriate, quality of life will be further classified into total quality of life, mental health components, and physical health components. The primary aim of this study is to determine whether aerobic exercise can improve psychological health and quality of life in older adults, and to quantify the overall intervention effects through meta-analysis. This study will also explore potential sources of heterogeneity across studies, such as exercise type, intervention duration, exercise intensity, control condition, measurement scales, and methodological quality. Through heterogeneity testing, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and assessment of publication bias, this study aims to improve the reliability of the findings and evaluate the robustness of the current evidence. The expected results are that aerobic exercise may have a beneficial effect on depressive symptoms in older adults and may also improve anxiety symptoms, although the effect sizes may vary due to differences in the number of included studies, sample sizes, and measurement tools. For quality of life, aerobic exercise is expected to improve some total or domain-specific scores; however, this outcome may show substantial heterogeneity and should therefore be interpreted with caution. Ultimately, this study will provide evidence-based support for promoting aerobic exercise interventions in community, nursing home, and clinical rehabilitation settings, and will offer guidance for the design of future high-quality randomized controlled trials.