Brain age gap reduction following exercise mirrors clinical improvements in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are associated with accelerated brain aging, reflected in an increased brain age gap. This gap serves as a biomarker, indicating poorer brain health, cognitive deficits, and greater severity in specific symptom domains. Exercise holds promise as an adjunct therapy to mitigate these deficits by potentially promoting brain recovery. However, the extent of overall improvements in brain health following exercise, along with their predictors and relationships to symptom clusters, are yet to be determined. This study examined the brain age gap metric as a quantitative indicator of brain recovery in response to exercise. To achieve this, we aggregated data from two randomized controlled trials, analyzing baseline (n = 134) and 3- or 6-month post-exercise (n 

SUBMITTER: Yilmaz D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12538700 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature