Association between physical fitness and depressive symptoms in university students: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

Objective: physical fitness is one of the most relevant predictors of an individual's mental health status. However, few studies have described the relationship between physical fitness and depressive symptoms in students from Latin America. The aim of this study was to verify the association between physical fitness and self-reporting of depressive symptoms among university students. Research methods and procedures: a cross-sectional study was conducted in 344 undergraduate students (53 % women, with a median age of 20 years, ranging from 18 to 23 years), from four public and private universities in Cali, Colombia. The components of physical fitness (vertical jump, arm pushups, trunk pushups and aerobic fitness) were assessed by field tests and a global fitness z-score was calculated as the mean of the z-scores values of each fitness test. In addition, global fitness z-score was divided into tertiles (T) to obtain three balanced groups: (T1) low, (T2) medium, and (T3) high global fitness z-score. Results: twelve percent of the population suffer from mild depressive symptoms, while 10 % reported moderate/severe depression, with women showing the highest score on the Beck-II Depression inventory. In men, inverse and statistically significant correlations were observed between the depression score of the Beck-II Depression inventory and lower muscle strength-vertical jump (Z-score) r = -0.190, aerobic fitness (Z-score) r = -0,195, and global fitness z-score r = -0.189; p < 0,01. The similar findings were observed after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity levels as covariable, between (T 1) and (T3) global fitness z-score, p = 0.028 in men. Conclusion: our results indicated that lower muscle strength and global fitness z-score was inversely related to self-rate depression symptoms using the Beck II depression inventory in men group.