Supervised exercise as adjunctive treatment for substance use disorder: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Exercise science
• Clinical psychology
• Public health

Background:

• Substance use disorder (SUD) is characterized by continued substance use despite negative consequences.
• Exercise is emerging as a potential intervention for SUD.
• This study evaluated supervised exercise's impact on quality of life, mental health, and substance use in SUD patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of supervised exercise interventions for individuals with SUD.
• To determine exercise's impact on quality of life (QoL), depression, anxiety, and urine drug screen (UDS) results.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of Medline, CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials.gov for randomized controlled trials.
• Meta-analysis using standardized mean difference (SMD) and risk ratio (RR) with random-effects models.
• Assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and certainty of evidence with GRADE criteria.

Main Results:

• Exercise interventions significantly improved QoL across physiological (SMD=0.94), psychological (SMD=0.89), and social (SMD=0.73) domains compared to standard treatment.
• No significant difference was observed in positive urine drug screen results between exercise and control groups (RR=0.79).
• High certainty of evidence for QoL improvements; low certainty for UDS results.

Conclusions:

• Adjunctive supervised exercise is effective in enhancing the quality of life for patients with SUD.
• Exercise did not demonstrate a significant effect in reducing substance use among individuals with SUD.
• Further research is required to establish exercise as a primary intervention for SUD.