Aerobic exercise during adolescence and anxiety disorders in adulthood: A cohort study using Add Health

The prevalence of anxiety disorders, and mental chronic diseases, has increased over the last decade among adolescents. Since aerobic exercise reduces the risk of chronic diseases and stress symptoms, we aimed to examine the association between aerobic exercise in adolescence and anxiety disorders in adulthood.

Self-reported, publicly available data from 5,114 adolescents who participated in Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was analyzed from 1994-2009. We included US-based individuals aged 16 years on average and observed them for 15 years. Weighted Poisson regression models estimated the association between aerobic exercise in Wave I (1994, baseline) and anxiety disorders in Wave IV (2009, adulthood), adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and substance use at baseline.

Overall, 639/5,114 (weighted 12.96%) individuals experienced anxiety disorders at baseline. Age and sex differed significantly across all exercise groups (p's<0.001). Aerobic exercise did not significantly protect against anxiety disorders in adulthood: compared to adolescents who did not exercise at all, those who exercised 1-2 times/week had 0.85 times the prevalence of anxiety disorders during adulthood (95% CI = 0.65, 1.12; p = 0.25). Those who exercised 3-4 times/week had 0.81 times the prevalence (95% CI = 0.61, 1.08, p = 0.15) and those who exercised 5+ times/week had 0.84 times the prevalence (95% CI = 0.63, 1.13, p = 0.25) than those who did not exercise at all.

Aerobic Exercise in adolescence did not protect against anxiety disorders in adulthood. More evidence is needed on this association, including using homogeneous measures of exercise and repeated measures methods.