EXERCISE IN ADULTS WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Bibliographic record
Abstract
INTRODUCTION & AIMS Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in adults. Stimulant medications are first-line treatments, they have many side effects and do not address common comorbidities such as cardiometabolic disease, depression, and anxiety. Exercise, by contrast, not only improves ADHD symptoms in youth but effectively treats such comorbidities, making it a potentially valuable treatment option. However, exercise efficacy in adults with ADHD has not been systematically reviewed. Therefore, we aimed to summarise the results of acute exercise and training interventions on health-related outcomes for adults with ADHD, including ADHD symptoms, cognitive function, and psychological well-being. METHODS Using PRISMA guidelines, fifteen databases were searched (including grey literature) on 27/08/2020, yielding 22,088 unique publications. Database alerts were created to capture additional studies (n= 2). Screening, data extraction, Risk of Bias and GRADE assessment was conducted by CEHB. RESULTS Seven acute (6 cycling, 1 self-selected, 1 yoga) and 6 training studies (Yoga, Pilates, Kickboxing, Tai Chi, General Coordination, Group Circuit Class, Cycling) were included. Among acute studies, those reporting small-to-moderate improvements in cognitive function were characterised by longer duration exercise (>30 minutes), withholding ADHD medication before exercise, and using cohorts with clinician-confirmed ADHD diagnosis. Among the training studies, only one reported an improvement in cognition following Pilates when compared to an inactive control. It was longer (6 months vs. <8 weeks), prescribed progressive intensity and volume, and had high adherence compared to the non-significant trials. The certainty of evidence was low or very low for all outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Overall, acute exercise may have a small positive effect on cognition in adults with ADHD; however, certainty of the evidence is low. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of different modalities, durations, and intensities of acute exercise and chronic exercise on adult ADHD.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.018 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.008 | 0.006 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.009 | 0.010 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.006 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".