Worldwide, depressive disorder is one of the leading determinants of disability-adjusted life years. Although there are benefits associated with a higher physical activity (PA) level, there is a lack of information related to this relationship, especially in countries such as Czechia, where modern approaches to mental health care only recently emerged. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between the level of depression and different PA levels following the World Health Organization (WHO) PA guidelines and according to specific symptoms that indicate depression. Multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression models were used to calculate the prevalence rate (PR) in a sample of 2123 participants (45.3% men, median 48 years). Compared to subjects with insufficient PA, moderate and high PA levels were inversely associated with continuous depression scores (PR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.75-0.97; and PR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.70-0.92). Depressed mood and worthlessness were the symptoms associated with moderate and high PA. Tiredness, change in appetite, and concentration problems were related to high PA. The results suggest that reaching the minimum PA target according to the guidelines seems to be effective, and this could stimulate adherence. However, more specific improvements in symptomatology will require a subsequent gradual increase in PA levels.

Department of Global Health and Population Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health Harvard University Boston MA 02138 USA

Department of Physical Education and Sports Physical Activity Health and Performance Research Laboratory Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Seropédica 23890 000 Brazil

Foundation for Clinic Public Health and Epidemiology Research of Venezuela Caracas 3001 Venezuela

International Clinical Research Center 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

Postgraduate Program in Physical Activity Sciences Salgado de Oliveira University Niterói 24030 060 Brazil

Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment Masaryk University 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

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