Exercise interventions for post-stroke depression A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Post-stroke depression (PSD) is one of the most common neuropsychiatric complications after stroke and is associated with increased risk of death and poor functional outcomes. Strong evidence shows that exercise has benefits for depression. However, it is not clear whether exercise has benefits specifically for PSD. This study aims to explore the effects of exercise on PSD and to establish safe and effective exercise prescriptions. Methods and analysis: The PubMed, Cochrane Library and EMBASE, databases will be searched using prespecified search strategies. Randomized controlled trials and non-randomized prospective controlled cohort studies regarding exercise for PSD will be included. The primary outcomes are depression scale and stroke outcome. The secondary outcomes are the occurrence of adverse events, cognitive function, quality of life indices, and the expression of nerve cell factors. The methodological quality of each study will be evaluated by the physiotherapy evidence database scale. The heterogeneity will be evaluated using the I-2 test. If I-2 > 50%, random effects models will be used in the analysis; otherwise, fixed effects models will be used to pool the data. Results: This study will assess the efficacy and safety of exercise for PSD. Conclusions: Our findings will be helpful for clinicians to re-examine the clinical decision-making in the treatment of PSD, by assessing the efficacy of a promising treatment modality for patients with PSD. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required because this study is a secondary analysis. The results of this study will be disseminated through journals and academic exchanges. Systematic review registration number: INPLASY202110100.