Higher Daily Step Count Linked to Lower Risk for Depression: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On January 2, 2025, we reported on findings from a study published in JAMA Network Open that examined the associations between objectively measured daily step counts and depression in the general adult population.

The study

In the systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers searched multiple databases for analyses assessing the effects of daily step counts on symptoms of depression. They reviewed a total of 27 cross-sectional studies and 6 longitudinal studies comprising 96 173 adults aged 18 years or older.

The findings

Pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) from the cross-sectional studies showed that 10 000 or more steps/day; 7500 to 9999 steps/day; and 5000 to 7499 steps/day were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms compared with fewer than 5000 steps/day (SMDs, −0.26, −0.27, and −0.17, respectively).

In the prospective cohort studies, adults with 7000 or more steps per day had a reduced risk for depression compared with those with fewer than 7000 daily steps (risk ratio [RR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.62-0.77), whereas an increase of 1000 steps a day suggested an association with a lower risk for depression (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.87-0.94).

Authors' comments

"The objective measurement of daily steps may represent an inclusive and comprehensive approach to public health that has the potential to prevent depression. We underline the need for further cohort studies to clarify the potential protective role of daily steps in mitigating the risk of depression during adulthood."

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