Effectiveness of Physical Activity in Primary Prevention of Anxiety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Moreno Peral, Patricia Bellón, Darío Anxiety disorders Exercise Primary prevention Systematic review Meta-analysis This study is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Carlos III Institute of Health, and the European Regional Development Fund << Una manera de hacer Europa >> (grant FIS references: PI15/00401; PI15/01021; PI15/01035) and the Andalusian Council of Health (grant reference: AP-00952016); as well as by the Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network `redIAPP' (RD12/0005 and RD16/0007). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of physical activity in the primary prevention of anxiety. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed. RCTs were searched in seven electronic databases. We included RCTs that assessed either the incidence of anxiety or the reduction of anxiety symptoms which excluded participants with baseline anxiety. Measurements were required to have been made using validated instruments. Objective or subjective (with validated questionnaires) verification of the performance of physical activity was required. Three reviewers carried out the search, selection, data extraction, and risk assessment of Cochrane Collaboration's tool simultaneously and independently, reaching an agreement in their discrepancies by consensus. In addition, a meta-analysis of fixed-effects model was carried out. Three RCTs met inclusion criteria, comprising 350 patients from 3 different countries. A meta-analysis was performed using five comparisons extracted from the selected studies, and the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) was -0.18 (95% CI: -0.44; 0.07), p = 0.158. The heterogeneity was irrelevant, I-2 = 17.7% (p = 0.30). There is no evidence that anxiety can be prevented through physical activity, although the quality of evidence was very low. 2022-03-22T13:25:28Z 2022-03-22T13:25:28Z 2022-02-05 journal article Moreno-Peral, P... [et al.]. Effectiveness of Physical Activity in Primary Prevention of Anxiety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1813. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031813] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/73636 10.3390/ijerph19031813 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España MDPI