Studying the effects of a physical exercise programme on people with schizophrenia or autism spectrum disorder has been the main objective of the VITACTIVA’T project, promoted by the Institut Pere Mata University Hospital (HUIPM) and the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica Catalunya Sud (IRB CatSud), in collaboration with Rovira i Virgili University (URV). The project results were presented this Thursday.
The findings were shared during an event held at Reus Deportiu, the venue where the VITACTIVA’T sports sessions took place. The event brought together more than twenty participants, family members and mental health professionals.
Regarding the study results, the research team explained that regular physical exercise can help improve several health indicators in this population. Some of the main findings include:
A significant improvement in cognitive performance, with positive progress in areas such as attention, memory, learning, reasoning and processing speed.
A significant improvement in physical fitness, particularly in aerobic capacity and muscle strength in both the upper and lower limbs.
An increase in the number of mitochondrial DNA copies, a biomarker linked to the cells’ ability to produce energy.
A significant improvement in psychosocial functioning, meaning a greater ability to manage everyday activities and social interactions.
The research team also found that participants consume a high proportion of ultra-processed foods. “This habit is associated with poorer metabolic health indicators and less favourable psychosocial factors, which reinforces the need to work on reducing its consumption in this population,” explains Bernat Ballvé, nutritionist and researcher in the project.
Overall, these results confirm the role of physical exercise, together with nutrition and other lifestyle factors, as a complementary tool with the potential to improve the physical and mental health of people with severe mental disorders. This has encouraged the team to continue this line of research through the launch of VITACTIVA’T 2.
A new phase focused on physical exercise
During the event, the team also presented the new edition of the project, VITACTIVA’T 2, which will begin a new exercise programme next October. This new phase will focus exclusively on physical activity and will be aimed at people with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.
Alba Valiente, psychiatrist and researcher involved in the project, explained that “the physical exercise programme will now last six months and will include three sessions per week, increasing both the duration of the intervention and the frequency of the sessions to meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization.”
Regarding the expected outcomes, Lourdes Martorell, principal investigator of the project, said: “The researchers involved believe that this more intensive exercise programme will provide new evidence of its role as a complementary therapy to standard treatment for people with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. The study will examine cognition, quality of life and several biomarkers. The project will also seek to identify specific genetic, clinical and metabolic factors that can help provide personalised recommendations.”
The event marked the end of the first edition of the project in a positive atmosphere of reunion and enthusiasm. The research team expressed their gratitude for the trust and commitment shown by all participants, as well as by their families and the professionals who helped make this initiative possible.
The team also expressed optimism about VITACTIVA’T 2 and highlighted their commitment to continuing to generate scientific evidence that supports physical exercise as a complementary strategy to improve the health, well-being and quality of life of people living with severe mental disorders.
Around sixty researchers from all over the country, from both basic and clinical research fields, have participated in the first national conference on genetics in psychiatry, held in Reus this Wednesday and organized by the Hospital Universitari Institut Pere Mata (HUIPM) and the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica Catalunya Sud (IRB CatSud), with the participation of the CIBERSAM network (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Salud Mental). One of the main achievements of the meeting, held at the HUIPM facilities, has been the promotion of a shared proposal to create a stable network or working group in genetics in psychiatry, with a long-term vision and with the aim that it may evolve into a future scientific society.
During the conference, strategic lines were discussed, such as promoting collaborative work, sharing data and knowledge, or creating a repository of genetic data, as well as the need to strengthen the transfer of results to clinical practice and society.
The meeting has represented a turning point in the field of genetics in psychiatry, since until now researchers specialised in the genetics of psychiatric disorders in the country had never met in a specific forum. In recent years, the growth of research in this field and the emergence of results with potential clinical application have favoured the consolidation of a critical mass that has made it possible to promote this initiative.
“It is the first conference held by specialist researchers in genetics of psychiatric diseases, and the reason is that it is a relatively innovative field. Over the years, the researchers we met at conferences said we had to do something together and, at the end of last October, at an international psychiatric genetics conference in Mexico, we decided to do it and chose to hold the first conference in Reus,” said the research director of HUIPM and deputy director of IRB CatSud, Elisabet Vilella.
At the conference, the different participating teams also shared their lines of work and presented the latest advances in genetics in psychiatry, with the aim of generating synergies and exploring new ways of collaboration. “Our group presented work related to the development and characterisation of neuronal lines from patients with first psychotic episodes, where we look for biological signals to help find the best diagnosis so that there can be the most personalised treatment possible, for example in the development of schizophrenia,” explained the researcher from the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Valencia (INCLIVA), Ricardo Ruiz Miguel, one of the speakers at the conference.
The organisers also highlighted that initiatives like this help to accelerate the transfer of scientific knowledge into real applications and to promote collaboration between research groups, also incorporating work with patient associations as one of the key axes for the future.
With this first edition, the conference has laid the foundations to become a regular reference meeting at the national level, with the intention of continuing to strengthen scientific cooperation and to increase the impact of research in mental health for the benefit of society.
▪ This is the first event of this kind in Spain and it will be held on 17 June at the Pere Mata University Hospital
▪ The national mental health research network, CIBERSAM, is also involved in organising the event
Sharing knowledge, exchanging research lines and promoting new scientific collaborations are the main goals of the first national workshop on genetics in psychiatry. The event will take place at the Pere Mata University Hospital and will bring together research groups from across Spain specialised in the genetics of psychiatric disorders.
The meeting, which will be held on 17 June, will gather highly competitive research groups at an international level. Most of them are part of the CIBERSAM network (Biomedical Research Networking Center in Mental Health), funded by the Carlos III Health Institute, and of the international consortium Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.
The workshop has been designed with a dynamic and participatory format. It will combine short presentations from the different teams, where they will present their structure, objectives and research lines. In addition, there will be workshops aimed at identifying common priorities and opportunities for joint work. The latest advances in genetics in psychiatry achieved by national groups will also be presented.
One of the key elements of the workshop will be the collective development of future proposals, including the possible creation of a stable network or working group on genetics in psychiatry. It will also promote shared initiatives in areas such as translational research and knowledge transfer to clinical practice and society.
Genetics in psychiatry is a field that has experienced a real expansion of knowledge in recent years, driven by advances in genomic technologies and the analysis of large data sets. These developments have made it possible to identify genetic variants associated with disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or autism, improving the understanding of their biological basis and opening the door to more precise and personalised strategies for prevention and treatment.
With this first edition, the organisers aim to establish the basis for a regular reference meeting that will help strengthen collaboration between research groups and increase the impact of mental health research. Here, the programme.
