Table 1.
Sample characteristics and descriptive statistics of participants (n = 25) with complete baseline and post-intervention data.
| Total Sample (n = 25) |
Intervention Group (n = 14) |
Control Group (n = 11) |
Test of between-Group Differences (ANOVAs) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metric variables (normally distributed) | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | F | p | η2 | ||
| Age | 38.1 | 12.0 | 39.4 | 9.7 | 36.4 | 14.8 | 0.39 | 0.539 | 0.017 | ||
| Depressive symptom severity (BDI) at baseline | 26.4 | 8.6 | 27.6 | 10.0 | 24.9 | 6.6 | 0.61 | 0.443 | 0.026 | ||
| Depressive symptom severity (BDI) at post-intervention | 15.7 | 11.1 | 17.1 | 12.5 | 14.0 | 9.2 | 0.46 | 0.503 | 0.020 | ||
| Age at onset of depression | 33.1 | 12.9 | 33.8 | 12.1 | 32.2 | 14.5 | 0.09 | 0.766 | 0.004 | ||
| Resting heart rate (bpm) | 75.0 | 12.8 | 78.1 | 14.3 | 71.0 | 9.8 | 1.95 | 0.176 | 0.078 | ||
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 123.9 | 18.2 | 128.4 | 18.9 | 118.3 | 16.3 | 1.97 | 0.173 | 0.079 | ||
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 75.9 | 9.9 | 78.6 | 7.0 | 72.4 | 12.1 | 1.95 | 0.176 | 0.078 | ||
| Height (cm) | 172.1 | 8.1 | 171.6 | 7.4 | 172.7 | 9.3 | 0.12 | 0.732 | 0.005 | ||
| Weight (kg) | 71.6 | 20.3 | 74.1 | 22.2 | 68.4 | 18.2 | 0.47 | 0.500 | 0.020 | ||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.7 | 4.8 | 24.7 | 5.4 | 22.6 | 3.8 | 1.20 | 0.285 | 0.050 | ||
| Metric variables (non-normally distributed) | Mdn | min; max | Mdn | min; max | Mdn | min; max | Independent Samples MedianTest (p-Value) | Independent Samples Kruskal-Wallis Test (p-Value) | |||
| Duration of current depressive episode | 12 | 3; 52 | 10 | 3; 52 | 13 | 5; 50 | 0.202 | 0.703 | |||
| Number of prior depressive episodes | 1 | 0; 5 | 1 | 0; 5 | 1 | 0; 5 | 0.666 | 0.649 | |||
| Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (min/week) | 60 | 0; 540 | 60 | 0; 360 | 45 | 0; 540 | 0.609 | 0.582 | |||
| Cortisol level –20 min prior to TSST onset (nmol/L) at baseline | 3.2 | 1.2; 8.8 | 3.0 | 2.1; 8.8 | 4.3 | 1.2; 7.9 | 0.609 | 0.582 | |||
| Cortisol level +20 min after completion of TSST (nmol/L) at baseline | 5.2 | 1.1; 31.9 | 4.2 | 1.7; 31.9 | 8.1 | 1.1; 16.1 | 0.344 | 0.324 | |||
| Overall cortisol response (AUCG) at baseline | 380.8 | 114.5; 1225.6 | 299.2 | 157.4; 1225.6 | 521.0 | 114.8; 805.0 | 0.267 | 0.250 | |||
| Cortisol level –20 min prior to TSST onset (nmol/L) at post-intervention | 5.0 | 2.0; 13.9 | 4.7 | 2.0; 13.9 | 5.9 | 2.4; 9.1 | 0.687 | 0.661 | |||
| Cortisol level + 20 min after completion of TSST (nmol/L) at post-intervention | 4.7 | 2.2; 21.4 | 3.0 | 2.2; 16.1 | 5.2 | 2.5; 21.4 | 0.095 | 0.090 | |||
| Overall cortisol response (AUCG) at post-intervention | 392.3 | 200.2; 1252.0 | 351.1 | 200.2; 992.5 | 429.6 | 217.6; 1252.0 | 0.202 | 0.189 | |||
| Categorial variables | n | % | n | % | n | % | χ2 | p | |||
| Sex (females) | 13 | 52 | 6 | 43 | 7 | 64 | 1.07 | 0.302 | |||
| Smoking status (smokers) | 9 | 36 | 4 | 29 | 5 | 46 | 0.76 | 0.383 | |||
| Educational background | |||||||||||
| Compulsory school | 3 | 13 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 9 | 3.30 | 0.194 | |||
| High school | 14 | 64 | 5 | 46 | 9 | 82 | |||||
| Higher education | 5 | 23 | 4 | 36 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| Diagnoses | |||||||||||
| F31 (Bipolar affective disorder) | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.90 | 0.625 | |||
| F32 (Unipolar depressive episode) | 10 | 40 | 5 | 36 | 5 | 46 | |||||
| F33 (Recurrent depressive disorder) | 14 | 56 | 8 | 57 | 6 | 54 | |||||
Notes. Normal distribution was tested with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test. BDI = Beck Depression Inventory. bpm = Beats per minute. BMI = Body Mass Index. AUCG = Area under the curve with respect to ground. TSST = Trier Social Stress Test. M = Mean. SD = Standard deviation. Mdn = Median.