Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42754613›Full record

Articlenpj aging2026

Effects of a three-month exercise programme on cognition, mood and neurogenesis: the NeuroFit randomised controlled trial.

Sahand Farmand, Curie Kim, Andrea Du Preez, André O Werneck, Lucia Batzu, Dominic Pearce, Kirsten Brady, Markos Khir, Sarah Nicolas, John F Cryan and 3 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in npj aging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05397990 (Investigating the Impact of Exercise on Hippocampus-dependent Cognition and the Gut Microbiota in a Healthy, Middle-aged Population), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05397990 nacompletednot on this map

Investigating the Impact of Exercise on Hippocampus-dependent Cognition and the Gut Microbiota in a Healthy, Middle-aged Population: The NeuroFit Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorKing's College LondonRan2022 to 2024Enrolled52ConditionsCognitive DeclineArmsExercise
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Sahand FarmandDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-3255-0349
Curie KimDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Andrea Du PreezDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
André O WerneckDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Lucia BatzuDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Dominic PearceDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Kirsten BradyDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Markos KhirDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Sarah NicolasDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
John F CryanDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Yvonne M NolanDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Brendon StubbsDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Sandrine ThuretDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. sandrine.1.thuret@kcl.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1260-8083

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/W018381/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Middle age represents a critical window for mental and cognitive change, yet it remains relatively understudied as a target period for preventative lifestyle interventions. We conducted a three-month randomised controlled trial in healthy middle-aged adults in the UK (n = 52) to examine the effects of exercise on pattern separation, cognition and well-being, blood-based biomarkers, and hippocampal neurogenesis, using an in vitro parabiosis assay. No significant intervention-by-time effect was observed for the primary outcome, pattern separation (β = 0.33, p = 0.26). However, significant intervention-by-time effects were detected for depressive symptoms, as measured by the PHQ-9 (β = -1.18, adjusted p = 0.011), and for the percentage of proliferative cells in vitro (β = -0.23, adjusted p = 0.02), suggesting that exercise remodels the circulating milieu in ways that directly influence hippocampal progenitor biology. Overall, our findings suggest that a structured, instructor-led, live online exercise programme in midlife is feasible and may produce temporally staged adaptations, with early effects on mood, intermediate systemic biological changes influencing hippocampal progenitor dynamics, and cognitive benefits that may require longer exposure to emerge. The trial was prospectively registered at Clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT05397990 ).

Identifiers

PMID42754613
PMCPMC13586222

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.