To evaluate whether a 12-week home-based exercise program is more effective than usual care for alleviating depressive symptomology in the postpartum.
Eighty-eight women experiencing postpartum depressed mood were randomly assigned to a 12-week home-based exercise program or usual care. Outcomes assessed immediately post-treatment and 3-months post-treatment were the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).
In the intention-to-treat analysis, the effect of the intervention on EPDS did not change from 3 to 6 months evaluations, but was modified by the baseline EPDS score, with subjects with greater depression at baseline (EPDS > 13) in the intervention group having a significantly lower postbaseline EPDS score compared with the usual care group (mean difference 4.06 points, 95%CI 1.51-6.61, p