ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2020 November;179(11):612-7

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.19.04158-5

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The relationship between TNF-α, BDNF, and cardiovascular endurance in mildly depressed elderly after Indonesian Heart-friendly Exercise Series I

Leonardo LUBIS ¹ ✉, Nita FITRIA ², Lynna LIDYANA ³, Shelly ISKANDAR ³, Ambrosius PURBA ¹

¹ Department of Basic Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Padjadjaran University, Jatinangor, Indonesia; ² Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Padjadjaran University, Jatinangor, Indonesia; ³ Department of Psychiatry, Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Depression in the elderly, even in mild status, will diminish their quality of life. Moderate exercise such as Indonesian Heart-friendly Exercise Series I (IHES-I), a safe and fun exercise for the elderly, is likely capable to improve cardiovascular endurance (CE), reduce TNF-α and increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
METHODS: A pre-post design study was carried on 15 elderly people aged above 60-year old who were matched to mild depression based on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) instrument. The IHES-I was performed by the elderly three times a week for 12 weeks. CE is estimated by the 6-Minute Walking Test while TNF-α and BDNF plasma were examined by ELISA. Eventually, the Wilcoxon-test was conducted to determine the effect of IHES-I on CE, TNF-α, and BDNF. Furthermore, the Spearman’s rho test performed to find out the correlation between TNF-α and BDNF with CE.
RESULTS: Improved CE (244.33±68.94 vs. 352.73±88.86 m; P<0.001), reduced TNF-α (334.40 174.26 vs. 166.60±132.79 pg/mL; P=0.001), and increased BDNF plasma (1664.8±588.9 vs. 2974.4±874.4 pg/mL; P<0.001). Spearman’s rho test shows a strong correlation between CE and TNF-α (rs=-0.704; P=0.003) and also between CE and BDNF (rs=0.582; P=0.023).
CONCLUSIONS: IHES-I is an appropriate exercise to improve the quality of life, based on TNF-α, BDNF, and CE analysis, for the mild depressed elderly.

KEY WORDS: Exercise; Depression; Healthy aging; Cardiovascular system; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor