Impact of leisure physical activity and resistance exercise on the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Korean adults: Analysis of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Background Various physical activity(PA) guidelines recommend leisure PA and resistance exercise(RE). However, the impact of PA and RE on the prevalence of depressive symptoms remains unclear. We investigated whether meeting PA and RE guidelines is associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms using nationally representative samples. Methods We analyzed data from 11,829(5111 male and 6718 female) participants aged 19 + years in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(2016 and 2018). Those with doctor's diagnosis of depression or with a cut-off score of ≥11 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were defined as having depressive symptoms. PA and RE were measured using a validated Global PA Questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between participating in leisure PA, simultaneously meeting RE guidelines, and experiencing depressive symptoms. Results Those who participated in leisure PA and met RE guidelines had a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms than those who did not(p for trend <0.001). After adjusting for covariates, those who participated in leisure PA and met RE guideline were significantly less likely to have depressive symptoms in male(OR = 0.52, 95 % CI 0.32–0.84) and female(OR = 0.71, 95 % CI 0.48–1.06), compared with those who did not participate in leisure PA but also did not meet RE guideline. Limitations The cross-sectional nature of the data prevented causal claims. Conclusions Participation in leisure PA and RE was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. This suggests both leisure PA and RE should be encouraged as effective means for preventing depression.