The Influence of Depression and PTSD on Exercise Adherence in Older Veterans

The purposed of this study was to evaluate the impact of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on adherence to an exercise program in a cohort of older veterans. Method used was a descriptive cross-sectional analysis of data from 30 older veterans participating in a study of home exercise monitoring. Participants were screened for depression and PTSD, and their one-month and eleven-week exercise adherence rates were obtained through participants’ daily reports of exercise performance. Participants with both depression and/or PTSD had lower one-month and eleven-week exercise adherence rates compared to participants without these conditions. Veterans who screened positive for both depression and PTSD had the lowest rates of exercise adherence compared to those with only depression or those with neither PTSD nor depression. Three out of four subjects with depression-PTSD comorbidity preferred exercising alone, whereas 77% of subjects without depression-PTSD comorbidity preferred exercising wit...